Deceit: Kakarotto's Fury
by Trunkten
Summary: This is a pretty long 21 chapter fic that I wrote about a month ago. It is very action-packed but also has a tough mystery that you have to try to solve throughout the story. R/R please!!!
1. Prologue

His eyes opened in a quick snap. There was darkness. That was all. He looked to his side to see the sleeping woman next to him. Why was he here? He looked up at the ceiling. His dull black eyes seemed to burn a hole in the white paint. Something was wrong...

_Kakarotto..._

His head quickly whipped around, almost smashing into a bedpost. He scanned the room quickly, furrowing his brow.

_You have forgotten, Kakarotto..._

Quickly, he got up from his bed and switched on the light. There was nothing there.

"Goku! Turn off the light! How am I supposed to sleep with the light on?" yelled Chi-Chi.

"Sorry Chi-Chi," replied Goku, shaking his head, "I thought I heard something..."

"WELL I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU HEARD! I NEED MY BEAUTY REST! I WON'T BE YOUNG FOREVER Y'KNOW!!!"

"Yeah...sorry again," said Goku half-heartedly. He switched off the light and retreated to his bed. As he turned to the side, though, his eyes were wide open. But in them was something new to Goku. It was a look of evil.

**--- --- ---**

_The next morning..._

A 13 year old Goten sat at the kitchen table, with a knife in hand and a napkin tucked into his shirt.

"C'mon mom! I'm so hungry!" yelled Goten. Chi-Chi then whirled around in anger.

"Would you shut up, kid? That's the third time you've asked me for breakfast this morning!" yelled Chi-Chi, "you know your poor mother didn't get even get any sleep last night..." Chi-Chi began to fake cry and Goten slapped his forehead.

"Okay mom, I'm sorry. But I'm really hungry! And where's Dad anyway? He never misses breakfast," asked Goten.

"I'm actually not sure, he seemed really sick this morning, and when I woke up he was just staring at the wall. He doesn't look good, so leave him alone today."

"Hey that's good news for me! This way he won't make me train and I can go over Trunks's house!" said Goten happily.

"Says who?" asked Chi-Chi menacingly.

"Ummmm..." suddenly the phone rang as Goten was trying to think of a clever answer. Chi-Chi grabbed the receiver.

"Hello?" she asked. There was a silence in the room, and Goten looked up to see his mother with a confused look on her face.

"Who is this?" she asked again, growing impatient. Suddenly she heard something, very faint, and very eerie.

"Who is--"

"Shut up Goten," replied Chi-Chi quickly, cutting off her son, back to phone she asked: "Tell me who this is right now! I have caller I.D. and I will send my husband after you!"

There was a soft cackling on the phone and then a dial tone. Chi-Chi looked a bit nervous.

"Okay Goten, go get your Dad. I'm going to call Gohan," ordered Chi-Chi. Goten obeyed and went up to his parent's room to see Goku turned the other way in bed. He could see the sheets slowly move up and down as Goku breathed in heavily.

"Dad, how're you feeling?" asked Goten as he slowly neared the bed. There was no answer. Goten began to feel a bit nervous.

"Dad?" Goten drew nearer to Goku, and heard his muffled breathing. Something seemed wrong. Goten rounded the bed to see his father starting straight out into space.

"Who the hell are you!" yelled Goku, jumping out of bed and raising his hand at Goten. Slowly, his hand formed a yellow ball of energy aimed directly at Goten. Goten's face ignited in fear.

"DAD!!! It's me, Goten! Your son!" Goten screamed in defense. Suddenly Goku blinked, and his eyes returned to normal. The energy disappeared and Goku lowered his hand.

"I'm, uh, sorry G-Goten, but I just was a, uh, ummmm, a l-little nervous. I'm not feeling t-too well," stuttered Goku. Goten just stared at him nervously.

"Mom needs us downstairs. Some weird guy called and she's freaking out," Goten replied, chuckling nervously, "yeah, like we should be scared of some weird guy...ha, that a l-laugh!"

Goku just turned and walked down the stairs to the kitchen. Goten followed suspiciously. When Goku entered the kitchen, he saw Chi-Chi at the table, shivering with her head in her hands. She looked up.

"Someone called for you, Goku. He was muttering something."

"Probably Vegeta prank calling again..." joked Goten. No one laughed.

"What was he saying, Chi-Chi? Did you make out anything?" asked Goku.

"I'm not sure, but I'm pretty positive he was saying one word. 'Kakarotto,' " replied Chi-Chi. And with that, Goku's eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed to the floor. 


	2. Chapter One

_This is ridiculous..._

Gohan looked out the window of his tiny jam-packed car. Beside him was his beautiful wife, Videl, who had her hair tied in a ponytail behind her head. Her eyes were a beautiful blue, which matched her jeans, and her white spaghetti strap went with it nicely. Behind them, sitting there slouched with a frown on her face, was his daughter Pan, who was looking quite impatient.

"When is we gonna be there Mommy?" yelled 4 year-old Pan, startling her mother. Videl turned around angrily.

"Pan! If you ask that question one more time, I am going to...ummmm...help me out here Gohan!" yelled Videl. Gohan grimaced at her voice in his ear.

"She'll incinerate you with a energy blast!" said Gohan, making Pan giggle. Videl suddenly became extremely angry.

"Listen to me, young lady, we are going to act like a normal family here! We don't want people to see us flying all over the place...they'll think we're weirdos! And we're not weird, are we Gohan?" asked Videl.

"Well, considering that I'm a cross between an alien and a psychopathic bitch, and I'm married to the daughter of the man that claims he can save the world but is actually one of the weakest men alive, and our daughter is one quarter alien and the strongest little girl on the planet, no, we're not too weird."

Videl grimaced and slouched in her chair as the cars once again halted, stopping the car in traffic again...

**--- --- ---**

_Kakarotto..._

"Who said that?!" yelled Goku, looking around the dark room. Actually, the room was pitch black, Goku couldn't see a thing an inch in front of him.

_You have forgotten, Kakarotto..._

"Who is this? Brolli? Vegeta? You're the only one's that call me that..." asked Goku. He stumbled around, feeling for anything. It was empty, the room was empty. Everything was empty. But wait...suddenly, out of the corner of Goku's eye, he saw a tiny beam of light. It beamed directly onto his back, directly above his ass (okay be mature). The light seemed to burn there, and Goku began to feel it itch. He reached behind him but could not scratch it. For the light was burning into him. Something strange was happening.

"Who are you, WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME?!" screamed out Goku in fear, feeling the light burn into him more, and the itch becoming unbearable. He let out a yell, screaming in pain with all of his mercy. He was frozen still, and there was no way to save himself...

**--- --- ---**

"Go…"

_Go where?_

"Go…please!"

_Where am I?_

"Go…ku…"

"Dad…"

"Goku! Dad! WAKE UP!!!" yelled Goten and Chi-Chi, desperately trying to revive Goku, who had fainted about two seconds ago. His eyes finally began to stir, and he slowly pulled them open, to see Goten and Chi-Chi standing there.

"Oh Goku! What happened?" asked Chi-Chi, lovingly hugging her husband and peppering him with kisses. Goku looked very confused.

"What do you mean 'what happened'? I feel great!" Goku laughed and jumped up in the air, dusting himself off.

"Wow, I haven't felt so good in a long time!" exclaimed Goku, picking up Goten and throwing him in the air, maybe a bit too hard. Goten flew at the ceiling but was able to stop himself. He laughed.

"That's pretty weird Dad, you seemed so sickly and mad when I woke you up before. Now you're…well…yourself again!" said Goten happily. Suddenly, Chi-Chi reentered (she left? damn she's sly!) the room with an icepack.

"I don't care what you say Goku, you're still sick to me and you are going to get on that couch right now!" ordered Chi-Chi.

"But really Chi-Chi, I'm fine!" protested Goku, but was manhandled by Chi-Chi and thrown onto the couch. She slapped the ice pack on his forehead and made him hold it there. Goku just smiled and rolled his eyes and Goten, making him laugh. Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," said Chi-Chi, hurrying to the door and opening it, "Gohan!" she yelled, hugging and kissing him like crazy.

"Hi Gohan," said Goten, appearing in the doorway.

"What's up lil bro?" asked Gohan, high-fiving his younger brother. Chi-Chi and Videl hugged and everyone entered.

"So what's wrong Mom? Someone called...?"

"Well, I'm not sure Gohan. You see, your father was sick and then someone called saying muttering something a few times," explained Chi-Chi. They entered the living room where Goku was sitting on the couch.

"Hey Gohan! Hi Videl! Where's little Pan?"

"Wight here," said Pan, hiding behind Videl's leg.

"Oh Goten, would you take Pan up to your room and show her your old toys? The adults need to talk," said Chi-Chi. Goten scoffed and reluctantly dragged (literally) Pan up to his room, cursing on the way.

"So anyway Chi-Chi, what was this guy saying?" asked Videl curiously.

"Well I'm not sure, but it sounded like he was saying Kakarotto," said Chi-Chi.

"But that's impossible, Brolli was killed a long time ago, I doubt he knows how to use a phone, and why would he call saying Kakarotto?" said Gohan. They all turned to Goku to see that he was unconscious.

"Oh my god! Dad!" yelled Gohan, rushing to his father.

"Oh, don't worry about it Gohan, he's just sleeping. I knew he was faking being sick! That Goku, always lying and never gets away with it!" complained Chi-Chi. Everyone looked at Goku suspiciously, something didn't seem right.

"Well Mom, did you copy down the address on the Caller I.D.?" asked Gohan. Chi-Chi handed him a small piece of notebook paper.

"Wow, the guy who called was so dumb he didn't even use a payphone, maybe it really was Brolli!" joked Gohan. Everyone laughed nervously, but no one really seemed to be in a laughing mood at all. Something was very strange about this whole ordeal... Gohan walked to the door and turned.

"I think you and Goten should take Goku down to the hospital. He doesn't look too good," said Gohan.

"Let me go get Goten and we'll drive him over there," said Videl, "and be careful Gohan. I know you care take care of yourself...but just..."

"Shhhh...I know, I promise I'll be fine," explained Gohan, walking out the door, forming an aura, and flying away.

Videl walked up the stairs to get Goten as Chi-Chi sat in the couch with her head in her hands.

**--- --- ---**

A slight twang seemed to hit Trunks in the head. Maybe he had been on the computer too long, or maybe it was those pictures of Pamela Anderson...Trunks heard footsteps in the hallway and quickly closed down the internet site he was currently on. Not that he was hiding anything...his mother walked into the room.

"Okay Trunks, what sites have you been on?" asked Bulma.

"Nothing Mom, honest, just checking out some Lizard Sphere X message boards," lied Trunks. Bulma sighed.

"God, who watches those stupid cartoons? For god sakes Trunks, you're 14 already!" said Bulma. Trunks just frowned.

"Oh Mom, you know nothing. They're not car--"

"Enough," said Bulma, cutting Trunks off, "it's bedtime for you mister!"

"Oh man!" complained Trunks, crawling onto his bed and curling up the covers. As his Mom began to leave, he felt another twang.

"Mom, did you just feel something?" asked Trunks. Bulma turned around.

"No honey, I didn't."

"Are you sure, because--" Trunks was cut off by screaming from another room.

"Mommy, I wanna read bedtime stories!" yelled out Bra from another room. Bulma rolled her eyes and left Trunks in his room alone.

_But what could that twang have been? The only other thing I can think of was that it was someone's energy. But who?_

Trunks tried hard to concentrate, and felt a familiar power, but couldn't figure out who it was. Suddenly, his door slammed open and shadowy silhouette appeared in the doorway. Trunks cowered back, but realized from the spiky hair who it was.

"Dad, what's up?" asked Trunks, recovering from his minor shock.

"What's up is that Kakarotto's son is coming here. And his power is high, hah! The fool wants to battle me! I'll show him who's boss!" yelled Vegeta, powering up. The walls began to shake.

"How many times have I told you not to power up in the house?" yelled Bulma from another room, as a picture fell to the ground and shattered.

"Quiet woman, I have some business to attend to!"

Blowing away Trunks's window with a power surge, Vegeta turned to his son.

"Throw some pants on, we've got company," the Saiya-jin prince ordered. Trunks quickly opened his drawers and put on a pair of jeans. He turned back to see his father gone, out on the lawn, powered up to super saiya-jin.

_This must be serious._

"Dad, is it really necessary to go super saiya-jin? I doubt Gohan wants to fight us, you know he's not like that," said Trunks, looking up at the sky but seeing nothing.

"Shut up, kid, I have no time for you. If you're scared, then go inside!" screamed Vegeta, losing his temper.

**--- --- ---**

"What is that great power?" wondering Gohan aloud, flying over a small city, just having felt a great power. He looked down at the note again and looked up ahead, seeing a golden light in front of a house in front of him.

_That's Vegeta!_

Gohan looked to be thinking in the air and then it all seemed to make sense. He looked at the address and at the house Vegeta was standing in front of. They matched.

"So you think you can scare my mother like that, Vegeta?" yelled Gohan, making the saiya-jin prince and his son look into the sky to make out a figure. Suddenly, Gohan let out a scream as his body exploded in power. 


	3. Chapter Two

Goten peered about the living room. It was so quiet and empty, except for the little four year-old girl playing with his old toys on the floor. His mother and sister-in-law had just left with Goku, taking him to the hospital to figure out what was wrong with him. They wanted him to go, but he fought against it, arguing that he was old enough to take care of himself, and also his niece. 

But had he heard something? There was definitely nothing in the room. The windows were closed and locked as well as the door. Plus, what did he have to worry about? 

Worst comes to worst, I'll just go super saiya-jin on their sorry asses! thought Goten confidently. 

"Uncle Goten, I'm scayed," said Pan, walking over to him with a look of fear in her eyes, "I tink I heawd something." 

"Shhhh…you're just imagining it. And I'll protect from danger anyway," boasted Goten, making Pan laugh. 

"My daddy says you are da weakest one in our family!" said Pan laughing. Goten blushed and then turned angry. 

"Well you tell your dad that I'll--"

**creak…**

Goten was cut off by a strange sound. 

"Uncle Goten, did you hear that?" asked Pan. 

"Yeah, I did. I'm sure it was--"

**creeeeeak…**

Goten was cut off again by the creaking sound. He looked around nervously. Pan seemed scared and jumped up onto his lap on the couch. Goten rubbed her hair, trying to calm her down, but she seemed frightened. 

"Who's here?" yelled out Goten to no one in particular. There was no response…Goten sat there, looking around wild-eyed, and still there was no answer. He began to relax. 

"See Pan, there's nothing to--"

**CRASH!!!**

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! Save me Uncle Goten! There are monsters in here!!!" yelled out Pan frantically. Goten jumped up and ran upstairs to his parent's room, where the crash had taken place. He saw that all the drawers had been pulled out, and the bed was turned upside down. The paint on the walls was chipping off, and the two windows were shattered. And in one of the drawers that has been pulled out, Goten saw a small slip of green paper. He read and his eyes opened wide. He turned to see Pan standing in the doorway, looking at the wreckage that had taken place in the room. 

"What does it say? What does it say?" she yelled out to Goten. He turned to her, shaking. 

"It says: 'Do not forget, Kakarotto, for your time for regrowth is on the horizon,'" said Goten, shaking his head confusedly. 

"But what does that mean? I don't get it!" said Pan impatiently. 

"Neither do I, Pan," said Goten, crumpling up the note, "neither do I." 

**--- --- ---**

"You think it's funny, don't you Vegeta? Calling my house and scaring my mother? And what have you done to my father? You've made him sick, haven't you? I know you're up to no good, Vegeta, you never have been," accused Gohan. A dumbfounded Vegeta and Trunks stared up at sky, viewing the saiya-jin warrior with a look of anger in his eyes. 

"What are you talking about? First you come to my house in the middle of the night! Then you make these false accusations! What gives you the right to be here?" shouted Vegeta back to Gohan. 

Trunks just looked up in the sky and tried to figure out what was going on. Had his father done something wrong…again? And just went he had started to trust him… Trunks pushed the thought out of his mind. This was his father. He had to stand by him. 

"A typical answer from you Vegeta. A pure lie. That's all you are Vegeta. You are made up of lies and deceit. Well I wouldn't pride myself in that!" yelled Gohan in anger. 

"I really don't--"

Before Vegeta could finish, Gohan blurred out, and seconds later appeared in front of Vegeta. A look of shock appeared on Vegeta's face and Gohan punches him directly in the stomach, the Capsule Corporation house, shaking it's walls and leaving a huge dent in it. Vegeta stood up and looked at Gohan in anger. 

"You don't know what you're getting into, little Kakarotto. I am the prince of all saiya-jins, and won't let you toy around with me like this!" 

With that, Vegeta leaped at Gohan, throwing a punch the Gohan dodged. He then tried to sweep-kick Gohan, but Gohan leaped in the air, just avoiding another punch by Vegeta. Vegeta screamed and fired an energy blast at Gohan quickly, and when Gohan had swatted it away, he realized his mistake. Vegeta suddenly appeared behind him and axe-hammered him in the back. Gohan went flying downward and his the ground with a bang, kicking up a huge cloud of dust. Gohan flew at Vegeta, and they both exchanged some punches, both blocking, punching, and kicking at the same time. Gohan got a lucky shot in, and then brought Vegeta's head down on his knee, knocking Vegeta back. Gohan then took Vegeta by the hair and threw him high in the air. 

"MASENKO!!!" screamed Gohan, who raised both his hands above his head, lined up with each other, and fired a large yellow blast right at Vegeta. Vegeta quickly rolled out of the way to be met by a kick to the face from Gohan. Gohan then formed a large ball of energy with two hands and shot it straight into Vegeta's midsection, blowing him far away. 

"Okay Vegeta, had enough? Now you can apologize and all will be over with!" yelled Gohan to the distant Vegeta. What Gohan didn't see was Trunks behind him, who quickly double-kicked Gohan in the back, making him fly forwards. Gohan turned to the lavender haired 14 year-old and frowned. 

"C'mon now Trunks, we don't have to fight. This is over with now," reasoned Gohan. 

"I don't think so!" screamed Trunks, while his eyes lit up with a light blue and his hair flew up in the air, spiking itself in a golden color. The young super saiya-jin pointed his finger at Gohan. 

"You don't mess with my dad like that! Just wait till he comes back, he'll be super saiya-jin two and then he'll give you a good whooping! But for now, you're mine!" screamed Trunks, launched himself at Gohan, who didn't look to happy to be fighting a young teenager. Just before Trunks reached Gohan, his father reappeared, stopping Trunks from advancing. 

"Hey Dad, let's attack him together! Then we'll win!" said Trunks. Vegeta shook his head and turned to Gohan. He slowly lost his aura and dropped out of super saiya-jin. 

"There's been a misunderstanding, kid. I never called your house. I don't even know your phone number!" said Vegeta impatiently, a little pissed that Gohan had just schooled him. 

"Oh yeah, so why did our Caller I.D. say your number when my mom picked up? Try to explain that!" said Gohan. 

"I really can't. Listen, we don't need to fight, I haven't even shown you my true power yet and I honestly don't feel like showing it. I want to go to bed. Just come inside and talk to my wife, maybe she can clear it up for you…" said Vegeta calmly. He then flew in through Trunks's broken window and wasn't seen again for the rest of the night. Gohan turned to Trunks. 

"I'm sorry Trunks, it's just that your dad, well you know how he isn't the nicest guy ever and the call did come from this address, so I came here," Gohan tried to explain. Trunks phased out of super saiya-jin. 

"It's okay, Gohan, c'mon let's go inside I'll get my mom…" said Trunks, and they went inside. 

Ten minutes later…

"So you're sure that the call came from here, right?" asked Bulma to Gohan, who were both sitting in the same room on couches. Trunks was there as well, sitting on a chair. 

"I'm positive, it said 25 Davidson Avenue on it. That's where you live, don't you?" 

"Yeah, that's where we live," Trunks chimed in, "I'm positive." 

"And you're sure you were home this morning, right?" asked Gohan again. 

"How many times are we gonna tell you Gohan, yes we were!" said Bulma, getting impatient, "I'm sorry Gohan, but I think you've worn out your welcome here. We'll see you later," grumbled Bulma, helping Gohan to the door. 

"And don't both coming back and start beating people up. It really isn't appreciated," said Bulma, closing the door hard. Gohan just looked at it strangely, but angrily. So who was the mysterious caller? And how was he still so sure that it wasn't Vegeta. Gohan paused, and could hear Vegeta snoring in the room upstairs. How could he be so sure that Vegeta wasn't behind it? Gohan wondered that as he slowly ascended into the air. He took one last glance at the house, then flew off into the distance. 

**--- --- ---**

In a large white lobby of a hospital, the door suddenly burst open with two women trying with all their might to hold up a very strong, but very unconscious Goku. Two male nurses rushed over to help. 

"We'll take it from here, ladies," one of them said, casually getting under Goku's right arm and the other got under the left. As Videl and Chi-Chi let go, both men collapsed to the floor. 

"How can he be so heavy?" asked the other helper, pinned to the floor. 

"Oh enough of this!" said Videl impatiently, and once again, with Chi-Chi's help, lifted up Goku and carried him to the front desk. 

"Hi, we'd like to admit my husband here to the emergency room, please," said Chi-Chi to the woman at the desk. The woman seemed to ignore her and kept filing papers. 

"Hello…" said Chi-Chi impatiently. The woman looked up at her, and then down again to type. Chi-Chi suddenly turned beet red and reached over the desk, grabbing the woman's collar. 

"You listen to me little miss! You admit my husband here into the emergency room or I'll…I'll…"

"Chi-Chi, calm down!" yelled Videl, pulling Chi-Chi away from the now terrified woman. She quickly pulled out some papers and Chi-Chi signed them reluctantly. Some men came out with a stretcher and with Chi-Chi and Videl's help, were able to load Goku on to the stretcher. 

"Man, lady, how did your husband get so heavy without being fat or anything?" asked one of the helpers, sweating like crazy. 

"Well I guess they say muscle ways more than fat, y'know," said Chi-Chi nonchalantly. 

"Whew…" said Videl panting, "that was quite a hassle, thank God we were--"

**CRASH!!! BANG!!!**

Chi-Chi and Videl turned around to see Goku on the floor, and the top of the once-working stretcher right under him. Chi-Chi sighed and fainted into Videl's arms. 

**--- --- ---**

A large space pod hurtled through the galaxy at breakneck speeds. It resembled a large beetle, with a small head in front and a huge dome for the body. Four guns protected it from all sides, each on each corner of the large dome, and one on the top, as well as on the bottom. It was all a dark gray, and not very easy to see. 

Laughter filled the inside of the ship, as five creatures of all different colors seemed to be enjoying a joke. They were all the same size and shape; they had bodies exactly like their ship, round and plump with tiny little heads on top. Their colors were red, yellow, blue, green, and brown. 

"It looks like Blemeth with some huge white pimples all over him!" joked the red one, putting all five into another fit of hysterics. 

"You could say it's even smaller then Yemeth's head!" said the green one, making them all crack up again. When they laughed they let out a gut-wrenching, wheezing sound (like King Kai's laugh in the dub) and sprayed purple goo all about when they did. 

"How could you even think of taking us here, Remeth?" asked the blue one, getting a bit more serious, "who would ever decided to live here in the first place?" 

"I like it," said the blue one, chuckling, "it's my color, and plus, maybe it has some good water!" 

"Water, that's all you care about, Blemeth," said the green one grumpily. 

"I wouldn't talk there Gremeth," said the brown one, "all you eat is grass!" 

"But that doesn't compare to Yemeth, who drinks urine all day!" the green one shot back. 

"It's not pee, it's condensed fiber-active urinal waste! And it tastes quite good, mind you! I can also bet it tastes better than what Bremeth eats!" said the yellow one chuckling. The brown one started to turn red. 

"Hey, it's actually quite good, you are all just too scared to try it!" complained Bremeth. He turned to the red one for support but he seemed to be concentrating. 

"Okay kids, enough joking around, we're set to land in about two hours. I want you all to strap in, this planet's atmosphere is tiny, but I never said it wouldn't be rough!" warned the red one. All of them strapped in tightly. 

"All I can say now is full speed ahead!" yelled out the blue one. 

"Yes, let's journey onward," said the red one, "onward…to Earth." 

**--- --- ---**

"Okay, let's see here now. 23…"

A paperboy on his bike threw a paper at the house labeled number 23. 

"Okay, now 24…"

He did the same thing with the next house, which was at the end of the block. 

"And 25…"

He threw the last paper in front of the small blue house labeled 25, with peeling paint and uncut grass. The boy continued to ride, right past the street sign, reading the street sign, which in big letters read: DAVIDSON AVE. 


	4. Chapter Three

Gohan slowly flew through the air, surveying his surroundings. He issued a loud yawn, trying very hard not to sleep in the air. There was really nothing to see, maybe his dad would feel better and he could go back home with Videl and Pan… But it couldn't happen like that. He and the other saiya-jins had made too many enemies in the universe already. It wouldn't be uncommon that there was another alien force, stronger than the last enemy. But how many more super saiya-jin stages could they go? Could they surpass super saiya-jin 3 if a very strong enemy appeared? Or would evil finally triumph over good?

Gohan shook the thoughts out of head. He was trying to look too far into the future. He needed to focus on the present. He had to figure out who--

Gohan stopped in the air. 

What was that? he thought. He looked around, trying to find the five immense powers he had just felt. Were there five? Yes, he was sure. Five powers, and coming from above. 

Gohan then heard a strange burning sensation in the sky. He looked up quickly to see the sky ignited in fire. It was a mixture of hot orange and dark blue. It seemed that something was ripping through the Earth's atmosphere. This was no thunderstorm…

**--- --- ---**

**BEEP**

**BEEP**

**BEEP**

**BEEP**

Videl and Chi-Chi looked on as the sweet man in front of them lay in bed. He was heavily hooked up, with IV's and many other wires going in and out of him constantly. 

"I can't bare to see him like this," said Chi-Chi to Videl, drying her eyes from the tears. After hearing that the doctors had absolutely no idea what was wrong with Goku, Chi-Chi fell into a deep depression, fearing the worst for her husband. 

"Don't worry Chi-Chi," reassured Videl, "I'm sure they'll find out what is wrong soon, and then Goku will be better." 

"I don't believe you, Videl," said Chi-Chi. 

"But why not?" 

"Because there is something very wrong this time. Even with Goku's heart disease, Mirai Trunks was able to help us. But no one is here to guide us now. We don't even know what's wrong with him!" 

Videl just looked down at the ground, searching for something to say, but nothing came up. Chi-Chi began to cry again. A nurse entered and took Goku's pulse and heart readings. Videl looked up at the ceiling and concentrated. She could feel Pan…and suddenly she felt her fear. 

"Chi-Chi!" yelled out Videl suddenly. Chi-Chi turned to her, "something doesn't seem right, Goten and Pan are in trouble, I think something has gone terribly wrong at the house." 

"Then go. Thanks for helping me Videl, but I'd feel more reassured if you were with the kids anyway. And don't bother taking the car," said Chi-Chi, watching Videl go out the door with a look of worry on her face. As Chi-Chi looked back to Goku, she saw his eyes wincing, and his hand behind him, scratching his lower back furiously. 

**--- --- ---**

Kakarotto… 

The voice was back. But this time Goku was in the middle of a forest. It was filled with evergreens, topped with snow that seemed to fit on them perfectly. Goku took a step and looked around. He was in his familiar orange Gi once again. His left boot plunged into the snow with his next step, producing a satisfying crunch. Goku seemed to like this. He didn't care how he got here, or why he was--

A bump on the head? Is that your excuse, Kakarotto? 

Goku looked around quickly. As usual, no one was there. The sound didn't seem to be coming from anywhere. It seemed to echo in his head, it wasn't from inside him, but instead channeled to him. What was the voice talking about? 

You have forgotten… 

In an instance, the forest dimmed to a pitch black. 

I'll just turn super saiya-jin so I can see… thought Goku. 

Goku concentrated on the death of Kuririn, and in an instance he would be super saiya-jin. 

But. 

Nothing. 

Goku reached down. Something was wrong. His hands were shorter. He could easily touch his toes. Suddenly, a mirror descended from above. It stopped right in front of Goku so he could see his reflection. He was once again a child. But that was not what made Goku faint in shock. It was the look of evil that burned in his eyes. 

**--- --- ---**

As his bottom touched the grassy soil of the plain, Remeth, the red blob-like alien, let out a shiver. 

"This place is horrid. I cannot believe we were convinced to come here," he complained as the four other blobs exited the ship. As each one touched the ground for the first time, they let out a shiver. 

"You are right, Remeth, this place has extremely low temperatures. I think the word would be 'cold' in their language," inserted Yemeth. 

"No one cares about their language," said Gremeth, "and I think it's safe to say that none of us care much for this joke of a planet." 

"I'd suggest flying, since we don't have to touch this disgusting soil," said Blemeth, as he rose into the air, with all four others following suit. 

"So how do we find the five? The five that worked for Freeza and his evil ways so long ago. The five that put an end to our planet and all it's life!!!" screamed Gremeth, exploding in a huge power. His body erupted and formed a human-like shape. It had arms, legs, a head, and a body, just like a human except with no expression face, or any other distinctive features. 

"CALM YOURSELF GREMETH!!!" screamed Remeth, making Gremeth retreat, turning back into his blob-like form, "I don't want you transforming anymore, that is a waste of energy and your time as well. We don't need any of that around here, especially since we don't want the Ginyu's to find us…yet." 

**--- --- ---**

For the second time in the night, Vegeta woke abruptly. But this time, something was wrong. After his little bout with Gohan, Vegeta was very tired and wanted nothing more than sleep. He could beat the little bastard anyway. He just didn't want to go super saiya-jin 2, or even beyond that…

And in the room across the hall, Trunks popped out of bed as quick as a fox. He had definitely felt a power. But it was not like Gohan's. This power was unknown to him, and it didn't seem like it belonged to anyone he knew. But it was great, it matched even that of the super saiya-jins, which was a signal to Trunks that his dad was about to--

"TRUNKS!!!" screamed Vegeta, slamming the door open. Trunks nodded and Vegeta left the doorway. For the second time that night, Trunks threw on his pants and flew out the window. 

**--- --- ---**

Gohan was sure of it this time. He had felt a great power. Just as the atmospheric storm had subdued, Gohan seemed to see a silvery gray glint from the sky, and then heard a loud BOOM of some type of impact on the ground. Something had come from outer space, and Gohan had to check it out. He raced towards the site, now having felt the great power. Gohan had a queasy feeling, a feeling that something was here that was not wanted. He had to find out what it was. It was his duty to his father, who was incapacitated at the time being. 

As Gohan flew over a large mountain, he saw a huge crater in the ground. Not wanting to draw attention to himself, Gohan dropped to the top of the mountain, scanning over the top for any kind of view. Unfortunately, he didn't have binoculars or anything of the sort, and a saiya-jin's vision is nothing extraordinary. 

He peered over the cliff again. But his eyes seemed to be deceiving him. He seemed be viewing five huge circles of different colors. That was strange. Gohan slipped on his glasses, but to no avail. He still saw five circle. He could make out the colors: red, blue, green, yellow, and brown. But what were they doing here? 

Gohan jumped and quickly flew down behind a big rock across the field from the ship. He heard a slight mumbling, but could not make out any distinct words. He peered around again. And yes, his eyes were not deceiving him. There were five circles, to be more correct, blobs, just floating there. Behind them was there now dull spaceship, and its dull gray was only visible against the dark emptiness of the night. 

Gohan knew that he couldn't let this go on. He had to figure out what the creatures were. Gohan thought that he always had made good decisions, so what was wrong with this one? Plus, how were five multicolored blobs going to do anything to him? Gohan jumped up from the rock, causing all of the blobs to do a full spin. He slowly descended towards them, and eventually landed right in front of them. 

He could make them out clearly now. And there was not much to make out. They were just blobs, as he had seen, except for the fact that their heads were made up of a smaller blob of a flat shape. They all turned and seemed to form a huddle. Gohan could make out many words of his language throughout them. Maybe they were some kids in Halloween costumes…

The blobs turned back to Gohan. The red one stepped forward, seeming to be the leader. 

"Are you an Earthling?" it asked. 

Gohan looked at it strangely. 

"Yes I am," he replied, "what business do you have on our planet?" 

"I will be asking the questions, Earthling," said the red one with a menacing tone. Gohan found it unbelievable how it talked, since it had no mouth, or anything else that moved when it talked. 

"Ugly creatures, aren't they?" muttered the brown one, causing all five to laugh uncontrollably. Gohan couldn't tell where they were looking, or who they were looking at, as they were all spherical and had nothing to indicate any facial or bodily features. 

"Earthling, are you affiliated with or part of the group of five warriors known as 'The Ginyu Squad'?" asked the red one again. Gohan heard the name. It sounded familiar. He was about to answer when--

"Oh, please excuse me, I guess we have skipped the introductions. My name is Remeth. My yellow comrade is Yemeth, my green comrade is Gremeth, blue is Blemeth, and brown is Bremeth. And don't mine Gremeth, he's very grumpy, as usual. Now that we've gotten introductions, introduce yourself," ordered Remeth. 

"My name is Gohan, I am son of Goku, savior of the universe." Remeth scoffed at the comment, and all the rest of the blob-like creatures cackled in laughter. 

"But let's get to business. I've heard of this 'Ginyu Squad' you are talking about, Remeth. But they were defeated a long time ago," assured Gohan. Suddenly the blob-like creatures went deadly silent. Gohan looked at them intently, and they suddenly burst out in laughter. They laughed so hard that the ground shook, making Gohan feel very uneasy. He had a bad feeling about these creatures. 

"Defeated? By who? Let me guess…you?" asked Remeth, beginning to stop laughing. 

"Well, I fought one of them, but Vegeta killed him anyway. Anyway, my dad beat the rest of them, piece of cake!" 

The five creatures stopped laughing. 

"Do you think it's funny, boy? Joking about the Ginyu Squad? That's not funny at all! They destroyed out home planet!" yelled out Bremeth in new anger. All the other four creatures backed up his words. They didn't believe Gohan. 

"What proof do you have that your "Daddy" just went and destroyed the Ginyu Squad, eh?" asked Remeth, with approval from the rest of his goons. 

"Well, I can explain it perfectly. You see--"

Before Gohan could finish, two long streaks of white appeared out of the sky and appeared next to Gohan in a flash. 

"Gohan! What are you doing here? Did you feel the power, too?" asked Trunks, who had just arrived with his father. Gohan looked down at him with a concerned look on his face. 

"Yeah Trunks, and I was just about to tell them about how my dad beat the Ginyu Squad," explained Gohan, puzzling Vegeta. 

"What are you talking about? Why are you telling five multicolored goo balls how we beat the Ginyu's? What does that have to do with anything?" questioned Vegeta with anger, "what's this anyway? Aliens coming to our planet asking us questions…hah…this is a joke. Let me show them the true power of this planet!" 

With that, Vegeta powered up greatly. Not even bothering to go super saiya-jin, Vegeta launched himself at Remeth. 

"NO VEGETA!!!" screamed Gohan as Vegeta pulled back his right arm and plunged his fist into the blob's torso. 


	5. Chapter Four

Vegeta's fist penetrated Remeth's midsection, and his fist reappeared on the other side.

Vegeta let out a cackle, looking around at the scene. Gohan and Trunks just stared in shock, and the other four aliens…well they had no faces…so no facial expressions there. Vegeta's cackle turned into a loud chuckle. He looked at the creature. He couldn't tell what it was doing or thinking. It did not issue a sound. Vegeta began to laugh hysterically. The pride of his saiya-jin background was painfully evident as Vegeta clenched his fists and retracted his hand from the red body. 

"And I didn't even need to dye my hair…" said Vegeta, shaking his head. He turned to Trunks and Gohan. 

"You shouldn't have done that, Vegeta," said Gohan shakily, "I was just about to work out some truce with the guy." 

Vegeta laughed, "What is your deal, kid? A truce? You are truly pathetic, a carbon copy of your father!" and Vegeta continued, "and what kind of truce are you going to make with someone who was affiliated with the Ginyus. He was probably a friend of Freeza's!" 

"And I still am," replied Remeth. The saiya-jin trio turned to see Remeth in perfect shape, and not just a blob without a hole. Remeth had transformed, he now was in the shape of a human, perfectly crafted with arms, legs, a torso, and a head. Still, the face was gone, but it seemed that this alien was ready for battle. 

"Just who the hell are you?" asked Trunks, staring at the five aliens who were all cackling. Remeth pointed to Vegeta. 

"You. You and those two. And there are two more. You are indeed the Ginyu Squad! Quick thinking and ultimately evil, we knew it was you when your spiky haired friend here plunged his hand into my torso," explained Remeth. 

"What are you talking about, you have no proof that we are the Ginyus! This is ridiculous! The Ginyus were killed a very long time ago!" said Gohan impatiently. 

"ENOUGH LIES!" screamed Remeth. With his newly formed body, he launched at Vegeta. Seeming to be in slow motion, his fist connected with the right side of Vegeta's mouth. His eyes wide with surprise, Vegeta's entire face contorted to the left, his mouth seeming to jut out. Three teeth flew out with the shot, as well as an ample amount of blood. 

But Remeth wasn't finished. He lifted his foot into the air and deftly plunged it into Vegeta's prone stomach. With that, Vegeta hunched over to be met by an axe-handle smash to his back. Vegeta collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. Remeth stood over him, gloating, and panting heavily. As Vegeta helped himself to his feet, he spit out another tooth. He then turned to Remeth and spat a glob of blood directly onto his face. Vegeta smiled. 

"You got lucky, fool. And let's face it, you haven't even scratched the surface of my true powers!" said Vegeta confidently. Remeth just laughed and rubbed the blood into his body. 

"Your vital transportation substance matches my color. How flattering," taunted Remeth. Vegeta wasn't taking to kindly to Remeth's witty remarks. He brought both hands to his sides and clenched his fists. In his mind flashed the thought of Kakarotto stronger than him, and in an instant, he was a super saiya-jin. It was so easy now, as if the transformation came naturally, and was never a challenge to achieve. Without a word, Vegeta disappeared. He reappeared behind Remeth, and punched forward. Unfortunately, Remeth leaped in the air to avoid it. In a second of silence, all was still. 

Remeth's foot met the nose of Vegeta. It sent him careening across the field, finally stopping by smashing into the boulder Gohan had hid behind earlier. Vegeta was lodged into the rock, with cracks running all around it, so much that the rock imploded and collapsed. Vegeta also collapsed, falling onto the rubble in exhaustion. His eyes were closed and his face was wincing in pain, for Vegeta's nose was broken. The blood poured from his nose freely, entering his mouth. Vegeta let his tongue out to catch some of it. That was the taste he loved. The taste of a battle. 

**--- --- ---**

"…so I said 'Kakarotto,' and he just collapsed like that. Poof, out like a light. Dad, he fainted. He--"

"Okay, I get the point now, Chi-Chi," groaned Gyuu Mao (Ox King for dubbies). In his arms was his loving daughter, Chi-Chi, was now crying on his massive forearm. They were both sitting in Goku's hospital room, waiting for any news, whether it be good…or bad. To his delight, Gyuu Mao spotted a doctor enter the room to take Goku's temperature. He then heard a loud shout. 

"Hi doc, what's goin' on?" asked a voice. 

_Who could that have been?_ wondered Gyuu Mao, getting up and around the curtain housing Goku's bed. Chi-Chi followed, and then fainted into Gyuu Mao's arms. Goku was awake. 

"Oh my God, what's wrong Chi-Chi!?" screamed Goku, jumping out of bed and running to Chi-Chi. 

"NO!!! Get back in bed, you're sick!" screamed the doctor, but then held back observing that Goku was in perfect condition. As Goku talked to Chi-Chi, she began to awaken. As her eyes opened, they lighted up in joy. 

"Goku! I'm so happy you're back!" she screamed, falling into his arms. Goku smiled happily. Goku then saw his doctor in the hallway talking to the other doctors. He overheard them saying, "It doesn't make sense. We didn't know what was wrong with him, and now he just wakes up!" 

Goku frowned. The doctors were very suspicious. 

"Sorry everyone!" he smiled, while nervously laughing. "I have to go…um…to the bathroom! Yeah that's it!" 

Goku slowly tiptoed into the bathroom and shut the door and locked it. His expression then turned serious as he placed to fingers to his forehead. He found the powers of Gohan and Vegeta, and in an instant, he was gone. 

**--- --- ---**

Goten and Pan sat on the couch, trying to watch TV. But it was to no avail, they both sat there, shivering, and Goten wasn't even going to attempt to try to reassure Pan. He was so scared. He remembered the note, and its eerie message: 

Do not forget, Kakarotto, for your time for regrowth is on the horizon. 

But what did that mean? Regrowth? Goten just could not figure out any of it, it didn't make any sense. And who was the person that did it? 

Suddenly, Goten heard a car honking and Videl pulling into the parking lot. Out of the car came Pan's mother, Videl, who rushed into the house quickly, hugging both of them. 

Everything was okay…

…for now. 

**--- --- ---**

Vegeta slowly stood up from the ruins of the once large boulder. He cackled, wiping the blood away from his nose. Yes, the pain from his broken nose was immense, but it did not compare to his compassion now. To kill. To take out that thing…that red blob of shit. Vegeta's anger gave him strength, and that strength awakened the power inside of him. In his mind flashed the teachings of Babidi, the Majin charm becoming part of him. And with that, Vegeta screamed out. His hair elongated and he became super saiya-jin 2. 

But Remeth was still not impressed. 

"Is that it? That's your impressive hidden power? Oh please, give me a break!" boasted Remeth. Sick of talking, he once again flew to the air, and charged up red energy in both hands. Quickly, he fired the two blasts at Vegeta, both of them exploding the ground in front of him. Remeth then shot at Vegeta, kicking at his head, but Vegeta deftly slipped under it, grabbing Remeth and throwing him to the distance. Vegeta then held out his palm. 

"Big Bang Attack!" he screamed, releasing the large blue light from his palm. The energy rushed to Remeth, but he blocked it easily. Vegeta flew after him, throwing a punch, which Remeth dodged and countered with his own, hitting Vegeta in the face. Vegeta spit up more blood and began to grow impatient. He threw himself at Remeth, throwing two kicks to either side of him, both blocked. Vegeta then grabbed Remeth and head-butted him, sending him flying back. Remeth just smiled and blurred under Vegeta, grabbing his legs and throwing him to the ground with all his might. 

Vegeta hit the ground with a thud. He looked up to see Remeth flying down at him, as his two feet plunged right into Vegeta's stomach, causing a fountain of blood to spew from his mouth. Vegeta's face was covered in red, and Remeth didn't even care. Remeth continued to stomp Vegeta mercilessly. 

**--- --- ---**

From the ground, Gohan and Trunks looked on in amazement. 

"Your father is going to be killed! I'm going to help him Trunks…" said Gohan. 

"My dad's the strongest in the universe, and no one compares to him!" screamed Trunks, trying to fight for his father's pride. 

After Trunks had spoken, a great energy was felt as Goku appeared on the ground in front of them. 

**--- --- ---**

Vegeta felt the power as well. He looked over to see Kakarotto, his greatest rival, appear on the battlefield. He was surprised to see him here, especially since all of the older members of the Z-Senshi were here. Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Chao-zu all were with Kakarotto, and Vegeta was very annoyed. 

"What are you doing here, Kakarotto?" screamed Vegeta to Goku, forgetting about Remeth for a second. Remeth also looked over to Goku. 

"Hi there Vegeta! I thought I'd check out what was going on here, and I brought the rest of the gang here as well!" said Goku happily. Vegeta frowned. 

"We have a little matter on our hands here, Kakarotto," Vegeta pointed to the Remeth, who had stopped flying up and was now recollecting himself, "this guy thinks that us five saiya-jins are the Ginyu Squad, and he wants to kill us. And I can't tell what they do, or where they are from. They just want the--"

Vegeta was cut off by Remeth stomping on him. He leaped in the air as Goku flew at him in super saiya-jin, and easily axe-handled Goku to the ground, kicking up a large cloud of dust. Remeth cackled in the sky. 

"Both of you are immensely weak, and you stand no chance against me!" he boasted, not noticing the two super saiya-jins rushing up in the air, who appeared before Remeth, smiling. 

"What's so funny, you two? Are you what they call 'homosexuals,' or two of the same gender that love each other?" Remeth laughed hysterically at his comment. But Goku and Vegeta weren't listening, as they spaced themselves apart and pointed their arms outward. 

"FU…" they said as they slowly floated towards each other, rotating their arms to face the middle. 

"SION…" they chanted, pointing their knees inward and thrusting their fists outward. 

"HA!!!' they screamed, bending their inside knees and touching both fingers together. In a flash, Goku and Vegeta fused together into the being known as Gogeta. Gogeta slowly floated in the air, a strange combination of Goku and Vegeta. His hair stood up like a super saiya-jin, a slight mixture of Goku and Vegeta's. His face was an eerily handsome mix of the two warriors. Gogeta smiled. 

"Never expected this, did you freak?" said Gogeta's combined voice cockily, smiling broadly. In an instant, Gogeta blurred in front of Remeth, thrusting his fist into his stomach with great strength. Remeth let out a shout of pain, the first heard all day. Gogeta laughed and sent him flying with a hard punch. The match was won. But something was wrong, all of the energies of the rest of them was falling. And in despair, Gogeta looked to the ground to see Trunks, Gohan, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and Chao-zu all collapsed. If it was Goku, he would've turned to the ground and helped. And if it was Vegeta, he would've laughed and turned away. But this was Gogeta, and the answer was tough. Gogeta observed the four other blobs, brown, yellow, blue, and green, seeming to be casting a spell over them, all of them laughing. 

But even Vegeta could not watch his own son be killed. Gogeta sent a blast after Remeth and quickly darted to the ground. Remeth was the least of their concerns, plus, they'd just kill him later…right? 


	6. Chapter Five

They yellow one, Yemeth, stood on the ground in its bodily form, as the other three watched on in their relaxing blob forms. All three of them laughed heavily, watching rays of yellowish-orange light emanate from Yemeth's outstretched hand.

The wind was blowing heavily, and even Gogeta's Super Saiya-jin hair, which seemed to stand up stiffly, was blowing in the heavy wind. There was definitely a great problem on the ground, and he quickly put two hands to his forehead and teleported to the ground.

All four blobs jumped back in surprise as the fused Saiya-jin appeared before them. They quickly recovered and once again began to laugh. Gogeta looked down to all of the Z-Senshi, who seemed to be dripping with sweat. They were panting heavily, obviously alive, but in very bad condition. Quickly, Gogeta leaped forward and planted a kick straight in Yemeth's chest, causing him to stumble back and stop sending out the waves of energy.

"What the hell are you doing?" asked Gogeta menacingly to the four aliens who looked at him with their eerie blank faces.

"Listen up," said Bremeth, speaking up for the first time. He slowly floated in front of Gogeta.

"If you surrender to us right now, my friend Blemeth here will spray all of your friends down and save them from the heatstroke. But if you don't, then you get no help at all. Your friends have approximately fifteen minutes to live," said Bremeth, slowly floating back and awaiting Gogeta's decision. Gogeta looked to be in deep thought, but before he could answer, Bremeth quickly grabbed all three of his friends and plowed into the ground. It kicked up a large cloud of dust, causing Gogeta to go into a fit of coughing. A few seconds later, the smoke cleared and they were all gone.

"What the hell happened!?" screamed Gogeta to the empty field. There was no sound at all. Silence filled Gogeta's brain, almost driving him to insanity. But then, that demonic cackling saved him. The cackling of those damn aliens that was driving him even more insane than the silence was. Gogeta looked up to see Remeth, fully healed and back in his blob form.

"Goku. Vegeta. Whoever you are. You don't understand the depths of our powers do you?" said Remeth cruelly, "You see, I am the color red. The color red is equal to that liquid in your bodies, you call it 'blood' I believe. And what happens when you get a big cut, Goku-Vegeta?"

"Well, it scabs. But where is this going? Is it another trick of yours?"

"Oh no, don't worry my combined friend. But blood scabs the wound, right? Then the wound heals. I am the color of blood, and I have the power of blood. I can heal," he said, laughing as Gogeta's face turned to shock.

"And the others have their powers as well. Blemeth has the mastery of the chemical H2O, or in more lament terms, water. Yemeth harnesses the power of heat. Gremeth, controls vegetation and foliage. And Bremeth, as you have just discovered, can use the soil of your planet in many ways. And now that you've had your little lesson, I must depart, because for the time being, your power overwhelms even I, and I sense much weaker Ginyu members nearby. Ta-ta."

With that, Remeth let out a howl and shot to the ground where Bremeth had just disappeared in. Gogeta quickly tried to follow him, but was stopped dead by the hard ground. But how the hell did they get through there? Gogeta started to ponder this but remembered the trouble his friends were in. Of course, he could use his Instant Transmission to get some senzu beans, but what if someone came and attacked them? He couldn't just leave them--

All of Gogeta's thinking was answered, as a large yellow machine suddenly appeared in mid-air in front of him. And out of the machine stepped Mirai Trunks, the man from the future. His lavender hair was neatly cut in a mushroom cut around his head. He was now a grown man, with signs of maturity all over his face. Seeing Gogeta and all of the Z-Senshi lying on the ground unconscious, all Trunks could think was:

_What the hell?_

**--- --- ---**

Goten tapped his foot on the floor impatiently. His mother and Videl were both pampering their "little angel," Pan, and just expected him to sit there and wait for them to give him some lecture on locking all the windows the next time he was home alone. Goten sighed. He couldn't stand it. He could feel everyone was out in the night, and there was fighting going on. But something wasn't right. And he felt that if he weren't there, it would slow them down. They needed his help, and he wasn't about to let them down.

_Screw this,_ thought Goten. His mother and grandmother couldn't treat him like a little kid anymore. He could make his own decisions. He was a young adult!

Goten stood up from the couch, and without a word opened the window next to him. He slowly slipped out and closed it quickly. Goten quickly formed a white aura around him. He then exploded from the ground, kicking up a shower of dust on to his home.

**--- --- ---**

"Who are you?" asked Mirai Trunks, looking at the eerie individual with curiosity. He was definitely a Saiya-jin, everything about him matched the attributes of a Saiya-jin. But this was not Goku or Vegeta. Maybe it was Gohan grown up…but there were traits about him that did not look like Gohan at all.

"I'm Gogeta, but there really isn't much time to explain, Trunks. But I need you to stay here and watch all of the Z-Senshi while I go to get help. Something is terribly wrong, and you need to make sure they are okay."

Gogeta quickly put his two fingers to his forehead and disappeared. Trunks looked around the field and sighed. The dust rolled across the field, blowing over all of the warriors he once knew many years ago. Krillin, he had grown hair, Trunks noticed as he walked over to him. Yamcha and Tien looked the same, as well as Chao-zu. He then looked down at his counterpart, Chibi Trunks. He looked to be in great pain as the sweat poured down his face.

This was no reception. Trunks began to grow tired and anxious for an explanation of what was going on. Wasn't everything calm and good after they had destroyed Cell? There were no problems in his timeline after Cell's destruction. The only nuisance had been this tiny alien named Babidi who claimed that he was going to collect energy for some monster. Trunks just laughed and brushed him off. Babidi's servant, Dabura, had fought Trunks to a standstill, testing his power to its limits. When Dabura seemed to be getting the upper hand, Trunks had undergone a transformation to Super Saiya-jin 2 and easily defeated Dabura. After that he killed Babidi and there was never another enemy in his time.

As Trunks was recalling the past events, he lay down on the grass and his eyes began to open and shut. That being, Velveeta or something, had told him to stay here and watch them. But Trunks was sure that everything would be just fine. Just fine.

**--- --- ---**

As Goten, flew through the air, he heard a low cackling. He stopped in the air, broke his aura, and looked around. There was silence. But he was almost positive his sensed something wrong. He began to continue flying, but once again, the cackling came back. Goten suddenly whirled around to see five figures of assorted color floating before him. They did not have much shape. Blobs, if you will.

**--- --- ---**

Gogeta appeared on the Lookout. Dende nodded and placed his hand on Gogeta's shoulder. And they both disappeared, leaving Mr. Popo standing there speechless.

**--- --- ---**

Mirai Trunks slowly woke up. How long had he been sleeping? Ten minutes? Oh well, it wasn't that big of a deal. Nothing could've happened in ten minutes, Trunks thought to himself with a hint of nervousness.

He slowly walked over to the fainted Z-Senshi on the ground. Krillin was not looking good. He curled himself up into a fetal position, sweating profusely, with soft grunts slowly escaping his throat. Yamcha lay on his back, also sweating like crazy. His clothes were bathed in liquid, he was stuck to the ground. Chao-zu didn't look all too bad, maybe it was something about his make-up or size. Chibi Trunks looked just as horrible as Yamcha and Krillin. As for Tien, Tien was, Tien was…

Tien was gone. 


	7. Chapter Six

Chibi Trunks, Chaozu, Yamcha, Gohan, and Krillin lay in the quiet field. This field was just recently the place of a battle, but now it was simply a field.

The cold wind bit at their faces, as the sun began to rise over the horizon. All of this fighting had taken place at night, and the sun's first beam of light struck Krillin's face. 

This made him grimace even more, for he was suffering extreme heat stroke, and he only had about five minutes to live. Was there any home for him? 

Obviously there was. In an instant, Gogeta blurred on to the scene with the God of Earth in tow. Dende quickly looked at five of the Z-Senshi lying on the ground, extremely hot and in danger of their lives. He quickly ran to Krillin, placing both hands on him as a white light erupted from them. Dende concentrated intensely as he pumped healing energy into Krillin's almost lifeless body. Krillin slowly began to come to, his eyes started blinking and his power level began to rise again. He slowly stood up and looked around. Gogeta and Dende were here, and Chaozu, Yamcha, and Chibi Trunks lay on the ground. A very strange scene indeed. 

As Dende began to heal Chaozu, a white light suddenly appeared straight through Gogeta's body. He nodded as a huge explosion of light erupted and one became two, as Gogeta unfused into Goku and Vegeta. Vegeta spat on the ground. 

"Jesus, I'm never fusing with you again. If I were just myself, I would've killed that Remeth monster and all the rest of his friends. You are a fool, Kakarotto," said Vegeta, walking away mumbling to himself. He walked over where Dende had just finished healing Gohan. The five remaining Z-Senshi had all been healed, and were dusting themselves off and wondering what had just happened. 

"Where is Tien?" wondered Yamcha aloud. Everyone began to look around. Tien was not in sight. From behind a rock appeared Mirai Trunks. Everyone gasped. 

"Uh…hi everybody," said Mirai Trunks. Chibi Trunks walked over to him and touched his arm. 

"You're me…that's…so…COOL!!!" screamed C. Trunks, inspecting him from all angles. 

"Enough of this!" screamed Chaozu, surprising everyone. "Where is Tien?" 

"Well you see, I uh…kinda fell asleep…"

"WHAT?!" yelled Vegeta, walking over to M. Trunks. He took his hand and grasped the collar of Trunks' black undershirt, lifting him up in the air. "Look around, idiot. Where's that time machine you came in? The three-eyed freak took it!" 

Trunks looked around from his raised position, and indeed, his time machine was gone. He looked down. 

"We ask of you one simple task…watch these pathetic fools while we are gone! Now some circus freak is off in the future, probably trying to figure out how he got there!" 

Vegeta dropped Trunks, who landed on his feet and gave Vegeta a cold stare with his deep blue eyes. Vegeta even backed up a step, feeling Trunks' anger. 

"And there's even worse news, guys," said Krillin, causing everyone to turn to him. "Goku fainted again." 

**--- --- ---**

Piccolo sat. 

Sat on the air. 

He never really thought much about it. Piccolo just was fond of sitting on the air. It was like a cushion to him, but he was holding himself up. Such a strange way of meditating. Not many others did it as he did. 

But Piccolo had no more time to meditate. He had been meditating a while, and just by doing it, he knew the problem. 

There was something terribly wrong with Goku. Goten was in deep trouble. And Tien was in the future, and something was not right there. And there were visitors. Piccolo did not know how many or their nature, but he knew that there were unwanted visitors, and they could prove a problem. 

And Piccolo knew his role would come soon. When he was needed, he would have to step up and save the earth. And not by using his strength, but his origin. 

**--- --- ---**

Everything was back to normal. Since the Androids were destroyed, the survivors of Earth had given valiant efforts and were finally able to restore it to its originality. 

They were very happy with their progress, and the Earth looked right once again. They hoped that by doing this, they would be able to destroy the horrible memories of the Androids' reign on Earth. 

But something would always be empty in this timeline. Who had destroyed the Androids? Who had saved them? Who had rescued humanity from its untimely fate? 

Many had claimed to, but none of them had the strength or wits to prove it. They were just pathetic people, hoping to make a name for themselves off the tragedies of others. But it was almost certain that their savior would never return. 

Eventually, the people gave up hoping that their hero would return to protect them. But there always had seemed to be an empty space. 

As Tien looked around this place, he thought that maybe the time machine had been a fraud. It looked no different than the Earth he had just left. In fact, he was in the same exact field he had left in. He was about to return to it but he closed his third eye to concentrate on the power levels of his companions. 

But Tien felt nothing. There was no one here. The stories Mirai Trunks had told them, that everyone had been destroyed except for him, were true. Tien was alone. 

Tien smiled. 

**--- --- ---**

The five blobs began to shake with laughter. The sun had started to shine and Goten squinted. He had been up all night, and was very tired. He didn't feel like dealing with five big blobs. But he was curious of what they were. 

"A Ginyu," said Blemeth. "And he's trying to deny he doesn't know who we are." 

"Well, you know those scum," responded Bremeth. "They probably have destroyed so many planets that they don't even remember the people. It's sick." 

All of the blob aliens let out howls and their powers erupted into high levels. They slowly became slimmer and sprouted arms and legs. They all ended up in the same shape as humans, except five different colors and they lacked faces. 

"Let me introduce us. I am Remeth, then there is Yemeth, Gremeth, Blemeth, and Bremeth. You don't need to know who is who, since you won't be alive much longer." 

All of them chuckled as Remeth continued, "You see, Ginyu, we know that you have destroyed many planets in the universe. We are the last of a race known as the Muk-jin. We have scoured the universe for you for many years, and never have been able to find you. But our information sources are excellent. We recently heard that five huge powers were located on the planet Earth. And now we are here. Ginyu, you are a pathetic excuse of a warrior. We are all stronger than you, you just destroyed our planet when we didn't expect it, and destroyed many of our greatest warriors. But now, Ginyu, you will perish!" Goten was taken aback by the story, still very confused. But some of it made sense. Maybe the five Super Saiya-jins were mistaken as the Ginyu Squad. 

But Goten didn't have much time to think. Remeth flew at him, with all four others at his heels. 

And it was an unfair fight. It started with Yemeth slamming his foot into Goten's side. He flew back as Bremeth smashed an axe handle to Goten, making him fly to the ground. Blemeth then dropped a knee in Goten's stomach, causing him to spit up. Yemeth then lifted him from the ground and slammed him down again, and Gremeth shoved his foot into Goten's face, grinding his heel into his face. They were all laughing. 

Goten panted heavily as he looked up at all five of them. He wasn't sure if it would work, but hoped his Super Saiya-jin transformation may be able to help him. Summing up some strength, Goten leapt in the air and screamed out. All five aliens were blown away as Goten hair stood straight up, and his red shirt and black pants began to ripple from his power. 

Goten's hair suddenly went from a dark black to a bright golden, and his body was engulfed in flames. His eyes went white temporarily, and then changed to a sky blue color, making him look more formidable than before. Goten's aura flowed through him as he turned to Remeth. He flew at him, throwing a punch, but Remeth dodged it and kicked him into Yemeth, who put Goten in a sleeper hold. 

All of the aliens began to laugh as Goten struggled in the hold. Bremeth walked up slowly and slammed his fist into Goten's stomach. He then followed with his left fist, and rammed another right hand into it. 

Goten screamed in pain, and spit out a mixture of saliva and blood. Blemeth walked up and inserted his elbow into Goten's chest, making him heave and start to cough heavily. He then slapped him around twice, then took his arm in his hand. He slowly took Goten's left hand index finger and began to bend it back until he heard a snap. Blemeth cackled as Goten screamed and his finger went limp. 

"He can't even break out of this! How pathetic!" said Gremeth as he walked up to Goten. He took his right arm and began smacking his face with it. The anger and embarrassment on Goten's face was painfully evident, but Yemeth's death grip was unbreakable. Gremeth then took his knee and smashed it into Goten's chin, causing his head to snap back sickeningly. He grabbed him out of Yemeth's hold and slammed his weakened body over his knee. He then dropped Goten to the ground. 

The blood was spilling out of Goten's mouth. But these creatures had no remorse. To them, Goten had destroyed their planet and had made their people pay. He had what was coming to him. Even Remeth, their humble leader, wanted a shot. 

He walked over to Goten and threw him up in the air. In his right hand he charged up energy in a red color. He slowly floated up into the air, arriving at the same height as Goten. Before Goten could fall to the ground again, Remeth threw a narrow red blast at Goten like a frisbee. It spiraled directly to Goten's left leg, and cut right through it. 

Goten's left leg fell to the ground, and the scream that erupted from his mouth sent a shiver down Gohan's spine. 

**--- --- ---**

"Something is very wrong. And it's not just Dad," said Gohan, looking very impatient. 

"Well why don't you do something besides sitting her and keep repeating that 'something is very wrong'?" asked Vegeta angrily. Gohan turned to him, clearly pissed. 

"Shut up Vegeta. Don't tell me what to do. I'll tell you what I'm gonna do, and I'm gonna take my Dad to Korin's. Maybe a senzu bean can help him." 

Dende had tried to heal Goku to no avail. He was out like a light, and everyone assumed that he was still sick from earlier. 

Gohan picked up his father and slung him over his right shoulder. He slowly rose from the ground and flew off in the direction of the Lookout. 

"I feel something wrong, too," said Chibi Trunks. "Goten is in trouble. His power is fading fast, and I think he needs our help. Who will come with me?" 

"I'll go. Even though I'm sure that Goten is fine, I want to get to know you more anyway, Trunks." 

"Dad? Where are you going?" asked C. Trunks. Vegeta just smiled. 

"Don't worry about me, Trunks," said Vegeta floating up into the air. He formed an aura and flew off into the distance. Everyone seemed very confused. 

"Well I for one want to know what happened to Tien!" said Chaozu. Everyone nodded in agreement. 

Krillin and Yamcha were going to go with him to Capsule Corporation, to see if Bulma could help them. And they all flew off into the distance, leaving the large field for good. 

**--- --- ---**

Goten lay on the ground, panting heavily. All of the creatures laughed as they stomped his almost lifeless body

Goten managed to open an eye; he saw a blur of red, green, blue, brown, and yellow. He knew that the end was near, and barely was able to see all five of them charging up a black blast. 

The Muk-jin heaved the blast straight at Goten. It pierced his stomach, ripping through all of his internal organs, incinerating them. 

Goten was unable to scream as the gaping hole appeared in his stomach. He had no more stomach, or any other vital organs for that matter. Rasping noises escaped Goten's throat. 

He thought back, to when he first had turned Super Saiya-jin. To when Buu was defeated. To all of the fun he had with Trunks. He remembered all of the good times he had. 

Goten took his last breath, and his life ended. 


	8. Chapter Seven

With Chaozu trailing a few feet behind, Krillin and Yamcha raced at high speeds towards Capsule Corporation, site of a short battle between and enraged Gohan and confused Vegeta just a few hours ago.

"Chaozu, do you have any idea why Tien would just take the time machine like that? It doesn't make sense," asked Krillin. 

"Well I'm not really sure," answered Chaozu. "Maybe something came over him. It seems that many strange things have been happening to our friends lately." 

"That's true," piped in Yamcha. All three continued to fly on in silence. There was an eerie tension. Krillin then broke it. 

"Hey guys, look!" 

Everyone looked ahead to see the large yellow dome, surrounded by smaller domes coming from it. In large letters on the front, it read: CAPSULE CORPORATION. All three descended slowly and landed on the ground just in front of the entrance. Krillin, Yamcha, and Chaozu entered. 

When they got inside, they saw Bulma sitting on a couch, reading a magazine, but looking to be in great distress. When she heard them enter, she screamed in happiness. 

"Guys! I'm so happy you're here! How is Trunks?! How is Vegeta?!" 

"Whoa whoa, calm down there Bulma," said Yamcha. Yamcha then proceeded to tell Bulma the entire story. When he finished, she shook her head. 

"This is strange. Why is the Ginyu Squad coming back into place? We took care of them a _loooooooong_ time ago!" wondered Bulma, who walked over to her workbench. 

"Well guys, you are in luck. I haven't told anyone yet, but I just recently built a time machine. I knew that the Bulma in the future had done it, and since she's just as smart as me, I gave it a try. I need to test it anyway, so you guys could head to the past using it!" 

"This is great news!" said Krillin, looking very anxious. 

"How many people can fit in the pod, Bulma?" asked Yamcha. 

"Two," she answered. 

"Yamcha and Krillin, you two go," said Chaozu. "I would just get in the way because of how weak I am." 

They all agreed that Yamcha and Krillin were to go, figure out where Tien was, and then come back in shifts. As Bulma, Krillin, and Yamcha entered the room, Chaozu slowly floated up into the air and left Capsule Corporation. And he wept for his friend. 

**--- --- ---**

Gohan felt his brother's power diminish in the distance. It almost caused him to stop and turn around, but the burden of his father on his shoulder would not allow him to do so. He hoped for the best, that he could still be healed. He had forgotten who was going where, but he was pretty sure that the Trunkses would've taken him if they thought Goten was dying. At least he hoped so. 

He almost felt guilty that his brother was in trouble, but he was just flying to Korin's tower for a senzu that may not even work. Gohan knew he had to be faster. He stopped in mid-air and screamed out, powering into Mystic form. With that, Gohan erupted in a speed many times faster than normal, rocketing towards Korin's Tower, his father slung over his back. 

**--- --- ---**

The itch. 

The itch was back. He didn't like the itch at all. It gave him such an uneasy feeling; it made him feel like something was coming that didn't belong. 

It didn't belong anymore. 

Goku saw the piercing white light, burning into his lower back. As much as he tried to move, he couldn't. He could feel it burning a hole in his body, but it was pain he felt. It was…

The itch. 

The itch would never leave. It would haunt him. And so would the voice…

_Kakarotto…_

The voice haunted him. The voice gave him so much fear. 

So much guilt. 

Envy. 

Anger. 

_You have forgotten…_

Why couldn't it just leave him alone? What had he done wrong? Did he deserve this? 

_Your questions will be answered soon._

The light burned harder into his back, and something began to…

**--- --- ---**

Chibi and Mirai Trunks flew through the air, concentrating on the task at hand. They were to save Goten. Along with them was Dende, who was so slow a flyer that M. Trunks had to carry him in his right arm. He didn't seem to be enjoying the ride. 

Chibi Trunks looked extremely worried. Goten had been his best friend for many years, they had done basically everything together, and Trunks could never hurt him severely like he always ended up doing with his other friends. 

Actually, Chibi Trunks had no other friends. Due to his extreme strength, he could never play around with anyone without doing any damage, even if unintentionally. Trunks was looked down upon by his peers, and many were afraid of him. This made it very hard to make friends. 

A tear slowly rolled down Chibi Trunks's face. If Goten was gone, he didn't know what he would do. There would be no one left for him. He would be alone, with no friends…or anyone that cared about him for that matter. He had to save him. 

Chibi Trunks knew they had to go faster. 

"Hey Mirai!" he yelled behind him. Mirai Trunks looked up. "Let's speed this up a bit!" 

Without stopping, Chibi Trunks erupted into his Super Saiya-jin state, giving him an impressive speed boost as he rocketed ahead. Mirai Trunks did the same, exploding in power and trailing Chibi Trunks by a few yards as they raced for Goten. 

**--- --- ---**

The glass closed over their heads as Krillin and Yamcha fastened their seatbelts. Bulma gave her usual, corny thumbs-up and smiled. 

Yamcha reached to the dial next to a LCD screen reading "2002" in block numbers. He slowly turned it clockwise to the year 2022. 

Twenty years in the future. The timeline of Mirai Trunks. 

Krillin nervously flashed a smile and thumbs-up back at Bulma. Yamcha pressed the "Activate" button and a whirring sound began. Slowly, the yellow dome began to rise above the floor, powered by strong air propulsions. 

It was truly a sight, especially to Bulma. **Her** creation, something she had worked on for some time now, was finally coming into play. Bulma had always helped the Z-Senshi before, but this was big. Who knew what was happening to Tien in the past? If he was in trouble, Yamcha and Krillin would be sure to fix it. 

Yamcha and Krillin watched on in amazement as suddenly the entire world went white around them. Bulma disappeared, everyone was gone. They whirled the top of the machine around to see what they had just entered. It was the Room of Spirit & Time. The Bulma of this timeline seemed to be older and smarter, and harnessing the power of the Room of Spirit & Time was an excellent idea. So they traveled on in nothingness for about 20 minutes, not a word being said between them. They marveled at the room's secrets. It was not all white, as most of the Z-Senshi believed. At some areas, fire rose up from the blankness with no provocation, and sometimes it would rain acid down of their time machine, burning the hole with its toxicity. The room was a place of extremes, and there was no way of telling which disaster would strike and when, making it highly dangerous. 

The time machine was able to avoid all of the perils, though, because of its high velocity traveling through the Room of Spirit & Time. Krillin and Yamcha just hoped they ended up in the right place. 

And then it ended. 

In an instant, the white disappeared and a strange Earth reappeared. It was no different than where they had left. In actuality, they appeared in the same exact lab they had left in. Slowly, the glass on top opened and Krillin and Yamcha stepped out. The lab didn't seem too musty or old, even though it was deserted. It didn't look like anyone had been there for a while. It was also empty, luckily for them, or they may have crashed into the other time machine when they arrived. 

The two warriors looked through the building, and it was definitely the Capsule Corporation. Unfortunately, it was devoid of lights and people, even Dr. Briefs and Mrs. Briefs weren't present, even though it had always seemed that they had never left the building. Becoming impatient with the darkness, Krillin and Yamcha decided to head outside. Krillin walked straight into the automatic door. 

"I don't get it, Yamcha. This place is supposedly so high-tech, but it doesn't even have electricity!" 

"I agree, it's very strange." 

Impatiently, Yamcha backed up a fired an energy blast at the doors. It left a hole just large enough for he and Krillin to fit through. They both exited the building and dusted themselves off. 

And when they looked up into the world, they gasped. 

**--- --- ---**

Vegeta landed in front of the blue house. 

The paint was peeling, and many chips of it embedded in the tall grass, that hadn't been cut for years. The house was unattended, the sole window showing the inside was a dark black, and nothing could be seen. 

Vegeta had figured it out after Gohan's quick fight with him. Someone had framed him. He was Vegeta, the royal heir to the Saiya-jins, and someone was playing him for a fool. This wasn't gonna fly. He knew that no one still fully trusted him, and so did the person who made the prank. The person was manipulating him and the rest of Earth's warriors, and was trying to tear them apart. 

He stood in front of 25 Davidson Avenue. The Davidson Avenue that the call had come from, or so Vegeta thought. It made sense. The person (or thing) that had called Goku's house had come to this broken down house with the same address as the Capsule Corporation. 

Clever. But no one outsmarted the Prince of the Saiya-jins. No one. 

Vegeta ascended the granite walkway up to the house. It was full of cracks, and seemed to crumble with every step he took. The grass on the lawn reached up to his knees. Vegeta reached the door and kicked it in, not even bothering knocking. 

The house was pitch black. Vegeta formed energy in his right hand to serve as a light, and then turned Super Saiya-jin for a little more. He entered the kitchen, which was full of pots and pans thrown all over the place, and on the table were the bones of a whole chicken. Vegeta looked confused as he entered the living room, where he found what he was looking for. 

The phone was sitting on a small wooden table, with warped wood and a leg missing. Vegeta picked up the receiver of the phone. The line was dead. Strange. But then he found a clue. As he put the receiver of the red phone down, he noticed a mark on it. He focused his light on that spot, to reveal a clue. It wasn't much of a clue, but it was something. The phone had a mark of white paint on it. 

Vegeta dropped out of Super Saiya-jin and exited the house, looking discouraged. He looked around, trying to piece together this strange revelation. 

**--- --- ---**

Dende, Chibi, and Mirai Trunks were almost blind. If Dende were not the Guardian of the Earth, they would've never been able to find Goten, since he had no power left. 

When Chibi Trunks saw Goten's mutilated body, he immediately screamed in rage. He flew down at the body as fast as he could, surveying the damage. Goten's leg was cut clean off. Blood surrounded him like a pool. His mouth lay open, one of the contributors to the puddle of Goten's own blood. Trunks screamed like a young baby, bearing all of his emotions at once. The tears flowed freely, and Dende rushed down and quickly put his hands on Goten. 

The healing did not work. Chibi Trunks could not stop crying, he was almost maniacal now in his screaming. Mirai Trunks slowly placed two fingers on Goten's neck. The boy was dead. Trunks could only shake his head. 

But Mirai Trunks and Dende did not realize what was going on behind them. They watched in awe as Trunks's hair began to grow out of place. Up to the level of Super Saiya-jin 2, but it didn't stop there. Trunks's hair slowly fell down to his lower body, just barely missing touching the ground. His eyebrows jutted outwards, his eyebrows disappeared, and his eyes went a dark blue. He looked reminiscent of Gotenks the fusion of him and his late friend. 

Trunks stood there, trying to contain the power of Super Saiya-jin 3 that was erupting from his body. The tears still streamed from his eyes, and his scream was piercing…

And then it left him. Trunks reverted back to Super Saiya-jin, and then to his normal state. And he fell to ground, unconscious. 


	9. Chapter Eight

Korin and Yajirobe sat in the tower, doing what usually did. Absolutely nothing. Korin had quite a few of senzu beans stored up just in case there was ever a situation. He knew that every time he thought the Z-Senshi had vanquished an enemy, a new, stronger one would appear.

But something different was about to happen today. Today, two men who looked very alike and were about the same size landed right in Korin's tower. The cat and man looked up, very surprised and happy to have a visitors. 

"Gohan, Goku! What a pleasure to see you both!" exclaimed Yajirobe, running over to them. 

"We don't have much time, Yajirobe," said Gohan solemnly. He lay Goku down on the bench near him. Before he turned around, Korin had already placed the senzu bean in his hand. Gohan reached for Goku's--

**BOOM!!!**

Gohan grabbed Goku and flew up into the air. He looked back at Korin's tower, which was vertically in between the ground below and the Lookout. Korin's tower was no more. It was more like a huge puff of smoke, but this meant bad things. 

Gohan looked up to see the Lookout wobbling. With Korin's tower destroyed, the top of the tower had no support. In almost no time, the Lookout began to topple over. Gohan could handle this, though. He quickly flew up and placed his hands on the side of the Lookout, to keep it steady. The Lookout was heavy, but was nothing for the power of Gohan. But he couldn't hold it this long. 

And then things got worse. Out of nowhere, a blast of green energy smashed into Gohan's side, incinerating his white shirt and burning his side. He screamed in pain and lost grip of the Lookout. He almost dropped his father, and when he had caught him, he saw what had happened. 

The top of the Lookout hurtled towards the ground, with gaining speed. An impact like that would kill many, destroy the Room of Spirit & Time, and possibly kill Mr. Popo. Gohan spiraled down after the Lookout, but he was too late. The Lookout landed directly upside-down, smashing in the house that Dende and Mr. Popo had lived in. The Lookout was destroyed, and a shock wave went through the earth, knocking down trees and all living things. 

Gohan landed next to the fallen Lookout and laid Goku to the ground. He quickly ran over to the Lookout and lifted it up. Under, he could feel a faint power, fading fast. He threw the Lookout up in the air, ran, grabbed Mr. Popo, and rushed out of the way before the Lookout hit the ground again. 

It sent another shockwave when it landed, and Gohan shivered feeling it. It seemed to pierce his spine, the shockwave, sending chills through his body more than anything had before. He felt something terribly wrong had just happened, and it had nothing to do with Mr. Popo or even the destruction of Korin's tower. 

But now to attend to the matter at hand. Mr. Popo was dying next to him, and he only had one senzu bean to distribute. He laid Mr. Popo on the ground next to Goku, and Mr. Popo looked up at Gohan. 

"G-Gohan, I c-cannot help you. Goku can. You w-will give him the s-senzu." 

"No Mr. Popo, I can't just let you die like this!" said Gohan with sincerity, a tear trickling down his cheek. 

"No Gohan. Do n-not give me the senzu. I-I will not allow it," ordered Mr. Popo, and with that his eyes rolled up in the back of his head and he passed on. Gohan began to bear all, crying and held up Mr. Popo. He crawled to his father's unconscious body, and slowly slipped the senzu into his mouth. Then Gohan fainted. 

**--- --- ---**

_Your consciousness calls you._

Goku looked around. There was no one there. He was now in a room with a brown floor. Well, more than brown. Cracks ran through the floor, leading into holes that seemed to never end. The sky was dark, but many stars lit it, and Goku could almost see a shadow of his feet. 

How strange. A shadow at his feet in the dead of night. 

But this was just another dream. Goku knew this. There was no way to escape the dreams. He had no wait out. Or that he knew of. 

And the voice always called him. The voice with no tone, excitement. It was monotonous, like a computer, but so much unlike one. It was strangely human, yet it was most definitely not. Goku could not understand the voice, so he chose to try to ignore it. But that was hard. 

_The bean broke the spell. You are free, but freedom always comes with a price._

Everything flashed before Goku. And he woke. 

**--- --- ---**

It was very unexpected. They had no idea it would be like this. It didn't make much sense. 

Krillin and Yamcha were looking up in the sky. What they saw was not frightening, nor dangerous. But indeed strange. Through the sky flew a banner, which had the face of a familiar friend of theirs. 

Tien. Tien was on the airplane banner, a shot of his face and unmistakable third eye, with a grinning smile that did not seem very like Tien. As the flew up into the air, they saw a large billboard. There, Tien's full body was shown. He was dressed in a black business suit with a matching black tie. In the caption it read: "The Tenshinhan, a man of great strength, integrity, and courage." Krillin and Yamcha looked at each other. What was going on? 

They flew towards Satan City. 

**--- --- ---**

Krillin and Yamcha finally arrived in Satan City, and to their surprise it had been renamed The Tenshinhan City. They roamed through it, trying not to stir up any trouble. The people there seemed very happy, going through their daily hustle bustle like nothing had happened. There were still signs of destruction in the city, but besides that, it seemed as if the Androids had never arrived. 

Krillin and Yamcha arrived at town hall. They had a feeling that Tien would be there, and they had to find out. When they arrived in front of the building, a busty woman with large glasses approached them. 

"Hello sirs. What is your business here?" she asked, eyeing them down in their Gi, which seemed very out of place. 

"Uh, we'd like to talk to Tien. Do you know where he is?" asked Krillin. The lady's jaw dropped in shock. 

"Are you referring to The Tenshinhan? How dare you call him his former nickname? He deserves way more recognition than that!" she pouted. Krillin and Yamcha looked confused. 

"Well miss, could you at least tell us where you think Tie--I mean 'The Tenshinhan' is?" probed Yamcha. The lady looked at him furiously. 

"Why should I tell you? What business is it of yours where The Tenshinhan is? Do you wish to fight him? You two hoodlums sure look like fighters in those preposterous uniforms!" 

"Okay lady, I've had about enough of this! Tell us where--"

"I'm right here, you two," said a calm voice behind them. They looked to see their old friend Tien walking up the steps to town hall, with a three-piece suit on and a strange smirk on his face. The fat lady beside them got to her knees and bowed. She growled, noticing that Krillin and Yamcha were not following her. 

"Tien, what're you doing here?" said Yamcha happily, glad to see his old friend. Tien smirked as Yamcha walked up to him. He reached his arms out and hugged his friend. Tien then let out a scream, and his fist appeared through the other end of Yamcha's body. Yamcha fell to the ground, blood pouring out from the hole. 

"NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Krillin, rushing to Yamcha's side and lifting his head. Yamcha looked at him. 

"Get h-him Krillin. Avenge my death." 

Yamcha there died on the steps to town hall. The fat lady stood, smiling. 

"Good job oh almighty Tenshinhan! You showed that jerk to give you more respect than you deserve!" exclaimed the fat woman angrily. Tien laughed and incinerated her with an energy blast. Tien threw off his three piece suit to reveal a white tank top and his usual green pants. He sneered at Krillin. 

"You're next, shorty!" he said, turning to face Krillin. "You should be just as easy as that joke, Yamcha." 

But Tien didn't notice the spiraling golden disc heading straight for him. Just in time, he flew up in the air, and the Kienzan (Destructo Disk for dubbies) clipped his right cheek. A red gash appeared and blood began to flow from it onto his face. Tien furrowed his brow and faced Krillin, who was standing with his right arm outstretched. Tien wiped the blood from his face. Krillin had a strange look on his face, a look of anger that he had never showed before. 

"Oh almighty Tenshinhan…I think it's about time for you to die." 

**--- --- ---**

Goku's eyes opened and he stood up. He was fully revitalized, fully awake, and fully different. 

Something felt strange about him. He felt something in the back of his pants, that needed to get out. Goku reached in a pulled out something he hadn't seen in a long while. 

His tail. It had grown back somehow, and Goku was very confused. Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to think as another brown blast came from the sky and exploded near Gohan. Gohan was there, Goku noticed. He was wearing a white shirt and black pants, but seemed to have fainted in the grass. He also noticed the Lookout lying on the ground, destroyed. Goku shuddered as he saw Mr. Popo lying in the grass. Another brown blast landed right where he was looking, on top of Mr. Popo's body, incinerating it. Goku screamed and launched into the air to see Bremeth firing blasts at the ground. 

Goku threw a fist at him, but before it reached him Blemeth grabbed his tail and tossed him. He then looked up to see two Muk-jins laughing in the sky. Goku knew he needed to go Super Saiya-jin to beat these punks. 

But he couldn't. Goku tried another time, but he could not turn Super Saiya-jin. He looked down at his tail. If he could just yank it out, maybe he could turn into Super Saiya-jin again…

But Blemeth was on him, punching and kicking, and Goku had no means of defending himself. He was thrown into the ground, and looked up to see Bremeth and Blemeth spiraling towards him. 

Suddenly Gohan flew in, kicking Blemeth in the side and knocking him right into Bremeth, and they both sailed away. Gohan powered up to Mystic, and awaited the battle. 

**--- --- ---**

Vegeta's sack was almost full. He powered up and flew into the air once again. 

**--- --- ---**

Mirai Trunks and Dende shook their heads admirably as they looked down at Chibi Trunks. He was unconscious on the ground, passed out from all the power that had just flowed through him. Even Dende's healing could not help him from his exhaustion. 

"I guess we should just take him to my Lookout," said Dende, as Mirai Trunks lifted up Chibi Trunks and draped him over his shoulder. "But there is something strange. It seems I can't find my Lookout. Something is clouding my vision." 

Dende nodded his head, "Strange. Well let's get to it. We should be there in no time." 

At that, Mirai Trunks and Dende flew towards the Lookout. But what they didn't notice was the yellow figure trailing behind them. 


	10. Chapter Nine

_NOTE:_ As you all probably know…everyone makes mistakes. As for me, I'm one of those exceptions--just kidding. But anyways, as my good friend FS pointed out to me, the Lookout floats in the air. I had always seen it on a large pole and assumed it was holding up the Lookout. Apparently I was wrong. Please everyone; don't point this out since I am aware of it now. It is also integral to the story that the Lookout does fall, so please bare with me. Thanks.

**--- --- ---**

"Krillin," said Tien, looking at him and shaking his head. "You must be joking. You…fight me? Admit it…I've always been stronger than you, and you stand no chance against me!" 

Krillin stared a hole in Tien. Something was wrong with his former friend. He seemed to have changed since he arrived in the future. Maybe it had some negative effects on him…

"I've had about enough time talking, Krillin. Let's get this started, eh?" 

Before Krillin could move, Tien had arrived in front of him and threw a punch. In almost slow motion, Krillin's entire body tilted back and Tien's fist just barely missed the top of Krillin's white tank top. 

Tien flew right past Krillin and landed on his feet. Krillin whirled around to see Tien fire a small white beam at him, knocking him through the air several yards. Before Krillin could land, Tien grabbed him by the hair and slammed his body into the ground. He floated up in the air, chuckling. 

"Maybe you should've stayed bald…"

Tien flew down at Krillin, aiming a kick at his prone chest. In a split second, Krillin leaped in the air, but Tien was ready. He landed on his feet and sprang up to Krillin, shoving his elbow into the former monk's chest with incredible force. Krillin made a sickening sound and spit up a mixture of saliva and blood. Tien chuckled loudly, and took Krillin's head between his two hands. He reared back his own head and slammed it into Krillin's, making a sickening crack and almost knocking Krillin unconscious. Tien smiled and repeated the process, producing another sickening crack. 

Krillin managed to utter a weak plea for help, but didn't have enough sense in him to realize that there was no help away. Especially when the entire world was cheering for The Tenshinhan, their savior. 

**--- --- ---**

Chi-Chi, Videl, and Pan were sitting on the couch of a living room. This was no ordinary living room. It was the living room of the most important building on Earth, the Capsule Corporation. Across from them, on another identical couch, was Bulma, wife of Vegeta and mother of Trunks. Her hair hung down to her shoulders attractively, and she listened intently to all that Chi-Chi was saying. 

But Bulma wasn't really listening. She herself knew that she was a very good faker. She faked in bed with Vegeta quite frequently. 

Bulma had the feeling that she had screwed up something, and screwed up pretty bad. She wasn't sure what, though. But one thing she did know was that she would find out…in time. 

**--- --- ---**

Blemeth and Bremeth were in their humanoid forms, and as they advanced on Gohan, they cackled evilly. Gohan looked down. His father lay on the ground, unconscious from one measly throw. 

Bremeth flew at Gohan, throwing a barrage of punches that Gohan matched, and threw some of his own. This continued on for a few seconds, then Bremeth finally got an uppercut in on Gohan. Behind him appeared Blemeth who kneed him in the back with incredible force. Bremeth powered up a brown blast behind him, and as Blemeth held Gohan, he fired it into his abdomen. Gohan was rocked back, but because of his hold, he was unable to move. 

Unmercifully, Bremeth began to fire multiple blasts at Gohan, all of them hitting him in different spots, the face, arms, legs, and torso. Gohan screamed in pain as each shot pelting him with searing pain. He looked down at his father, who was just recovering from the attack. His tail had regrown. 

Blemeth threw Gohan up in the air, and he and Bremeth fired blue and brown blasts all around him. They surrounded him, and then all closed in on him, pelting him from every side and angle. Gohan couldn't even mutter a scream. 

**--- --- ---**

The energy continued to drop. Strangely, as Chibi Trunks was dreaming at the moment, he had dreamed of it raining, and even stranger, it was raining outside. It had reached about noon, and the rain beat down on Mirai Trunks and Dende as they flew through the air for the energy that was dropping. 

Their concentration seemed to be unfocused. And there was much on their minds. Like Chibi Trunks going Super Saiya-jin 3. Who would've expected that? And Goten. Poor Goten. Who had killed him? And why? What was the purpose? 

Everything seemed unclear to them, and in the rain, thinking so heavily, they did not see the hint of yellow following them from behind. 

Dende didn't see it when a yellow blast shot through his chest. Nor was he looking when Yemeth kneed Mirai Trunks in the back and threw him to the ground. 

Both Trunkses hit hard. Chibi Trunks landed first, and Mirai right on top of him, causing him to scream in pain on impact, even from his unconscious state. The dry tears still stuck to Chibi Trunks's face, even though the rain had already fallen on it. It seemed that those tears would never wash away. 

Dende fell to the ground; smoke slowly poured through the gaping hole in his chest. He looked up at the sky and his eyes rolled up into the back of his head. His breathing was heavy and broken. 

Mirai Trunks slowly got to his feet and looked up at Yemeth. With a scream, he erupted into Super Saiya-jin 2, and pointed at the yellow fiend. 

"You!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "You killed Goku's child. And you have caused all this pain today." 

Yemeth laughed and pointed right back at Mirai Trunks. 

"And you! You are the next one to die!" screamed Yemeth, who put two hands over his head and quickly charged an enormous yellow blast in seconds, one that could probably take the Earth with one hit. 

But before Yemeth fired, he saw a cape fly in front of him. And as Yemeth looked confusedly at the cape, a hole appeared in it. And coming right through the hole was a spiraling orange blast around a straight energy shaft in the middle. Yemeth screamed as the blast hit him directly in the head, putting a hole right through it. 

In seconds, Yemeth dropped to the ground, victim of the Makansappo. The cape dropped to the ground to reveal a warrior clothed in navy blue. But he was unlike the Saiya-jins, for he was green with pink patches on his body. And his face was of pure wisdom and strength. Piccolo had arrived. 

"There's no time to talk. Where's Dende?" asked Piccolo quickly. Mirai Trunks slowly pointed to the point where Dende had fallen, without saying a word. Piccolo quickly reached him and placed two hands on his body. 

"Dende, listen. It's me, Piccolo. You have a choice. You can die and lose all of our dragon balls, or you can transfer the dragon balls to me, and then fuse with me, so I can control the dragon balls and have healing powers as well. What is your choice?" 

Dende looked up at Piccolo slowly. His head seemed to not work with his body, for it could not move at all. He nodded his head. 

"Yes. We shall fuse." 

Piccolo nodded and took Dende's hand. A green light illuminated up between them, and Piccolo nodded as the power of the dragon balls entered him. Piccolo then placed his hands on Dende's body, and let out a scream as a white light erupted from Dende's body. 

**--- --- ---**

_Pit. Pat. Pit. Pat._

It was driving him crazy. Vegeta could not stand the sound of the rain hammering down on the treetops of the forest. It was bad enough that he was searching through the forest. But he had to listen to the damn rain…

"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Vegeta screamed in anger and listened to many animals scurry away from his power. This was a place where Vegeta could be appreciated. These stupid little creatures, they would realize his true power. To everyone else, he would never be number one. It would always be Kakarotto. 

"KAKAROTTO!!!!!!!" screamed Vegeta, causing the animals to run even farther away. His power sent shockwaves through the jungle, causing the trees to bend and shake, and some small animals fly through the air. His power was unmatched here. It was so strong that--

A glint. 

Vegeta saw a glint of orange. Maybe his power had knocked it out of his hiding place. Vegeta grinned and picked up the last dragon ball. He looked at it and smiled. Then it turned to stone. 

**--- --- ---**

Tien threw Krillin up in the air, just to smash him down again with an elbow. As Tien rushed him, Krillin jumped and landed a kick to Tien's jaw. Tien stumbled back and Krillin attempted a punch. Tien stepped back and grabbed Krillin's fist, which was much smaller than his. 

"Give it up Krillin. If you stop now, I may find a place for you in my empire, the empire of The Tenshinhan." 

Krillin scoffed and spit in Tien's face. Tien screamed in anger and clubbed the back of his elbow to Krillin's neck. Krillin fell to the ground, grabbing his neck in pain. Tien stood over him, laughing, with his boot shoved into Krillin's head. He slowly twisted it left and right, grinding Krillin's face into the ground with agony. 

Tien was enjoying it. Every second of it he laughed with happiness, like he had wanted to do this his whole life. And maybe he had. 

Tien got off of Krillin and floated up into the air. 

"I've had enough of you. You were nothing, a weak opponent with no strength. It's time to end this, Krillin." 

Tien smiled as he brought two hands up in front of him to form a triangle. He floated down to the ground once again, charging a blast, but noticing he had landed right next to the fallen Yamcha. He looked down and stepped on Yamcha's head. And that's when Krillin lost it. 

**--- --- ---**

Vegeta stared at the stone for a second. He was confused. But then it turned back into a dragon ball. All two stars were there, as they had been before. Maybe he was tired from searching so long. He needed some rest. Vegeta tossed the ball into the bag and saw an eerie glow from inside. He powered up and shot off into the trees. 

**--- --- ---**

Piccolo stood up from the ground. It was done. He dusted himself off and looked at his new body. Not much of a change, but he knew most of it took place inside of him. He put his hands to Chibi Trunks, who lay on the ground, wounded from his crash landing. A light emanated from them, healing the young lavender-haired boy, who finally stood up, holding his head. The dry tears remained. 

Piccolo knew it had worked. He also knew that the power of the dragon balls was now invested in him. He had new responsibility. He also knew that his goal was accomplished. He was now stronger and more helpful than any of the Z-Senshi could ever be. Piccolo was content. 

"Piccolo, we have bad news," said Mirai Trunks, walking over, feeling a bit shaken from the previous encounter. "Goten, the second son of Goku. He is…he's dead." 

Chibi Trunks turned away, not trying to show his sadness. A look of surprise appeared on Piccolo's face, then one of remorse. He had come to like that child. How could he have just died? 

"These aliens, the Muk-jin, they are ruthless. And when they are together, they have the power to torture and destroy. They must be stopped at all costs," explained Mirai Trunks. Piccolo looked in deep concentration. He called upon Dende's knowledge to find out about what he knew of the Muk-jin. 

Before Piccolo could finish, Chibi Trunks screamed, seeing a yellow flash before his eyes. A kick sent Chibi Trunks flying across the ground, and he skidded to a stop before Piccolo. Piccolo and Mirai Trunks looked up to see Yemeth standing there, chuckling. There was not a scratch on him. 

**--- --- ---**

HE raised three fingers. 

_Three down._

And it smiled. 

_Many more to go…_


	11. Chapter Ten

Piccolo and Mirai Trunks raised their power levels to maximum. Piccolo was much weaker, he was almost stronger than Mirai Trunks's basic form, but when Trunks erupted into Super Saiya-jin 2, Piccolo became nothing.

But he didn't care. Piccolo would fight, and if he must, he would die with honor. 

"Okay you yellow freak, prepare to die," screamed Piccolo. Him and Yemeth met with a huge elbow in mid-air. Electricity began to crackle between their forearms; energy was erupting from both of them. Then Yemeth laughed. 

"You actually think you can match up to me?" 

Yemeth broke the hold, whirled, and planted a roundhouse kick to Piccolo's face. It seemed as if the world has frozen. Piccolo's face turned at a strange angle and seconds later his body followed. He flew off into the distance, totally helpless. Yemeth turned around to face Mirai Trunks, who planted a fist in his face. Yemeth was unfazed as the fist sunk in through his "flesh." Mirai Trunks could tell he was smiling though he didn't have a face. 

Yemeth took Mirai Trunks's hand and effectively snapped it like a twig. A look of horror appeared on the grown man's face, and he had to hold back screaming like a little girl. 

Everything was silent. The wind blew through the air, ruffling Trunks's purple hair, as he had reverted back to his normal form. Yemeth tossed Mirai Trunks to the ground and prepared to fly away. 

But he did not see his last challenger. In front of him, in a blur of gold and white, Chibi Trunks had his knee in the stomach of Yemeth. Yemeth doubled over in pain, not showing it but evidently having a hard time comprehending the blow. 

"Enough of you aliens. All you do is hurt and destroy. What do you want here?" asked Chibi Trunks. Yemeth looked up at him. 

** FLASHBACK **

_We were a peaceful planet. No one bothered us. Most of us never even knew that we had other forms, form that we could fight with. We stayed in our blob-like states and never had to fight. We never wanted to fight._

A planet very similar to Earth is shown. The colors are bright and outward, much purple, green, and red. The blob-like creatures float around, in a normal hustle bustle way of life. 

_But one day, the light shone in the sky. Bremeth, Gremeth, Blemeth, Remeth, and I were leaving for a trip to a nearby planet, Talitan, that day, and were the only ones to escape the planet. As we looked down from space, we saw five pods floating there. And a man stepped out. We could see his beige skin and features just like you. His name, Recoome. He shot a blast and destroyed our planet and everything near it. And he laughed. The least he could do. _

Was laugh. 

A scene of a giant red planet hit with a large blue beam. A shockwave is sent through it and it explodes into a huge ball of fire. In seconds, it is erased from the universe, with an entire race gone with it. 

_And that was the end of the Muk-jin. Similar to some other race, but I am not sure of what they are called… Anyhow, Recoome looked just like you. We didn't get a great look of him, but we could tell he was in the Ginyu Squad, just like all of you. And you will pay for what you have done._

** END FLASHBACK **

"You are an idiot," said Trunks, without hesitating. "Recoome was part of the Ginyu, but we are the Saiya-jins. We are the race that was destroyed as well. We can change to Super Saiya-jins. The Ginyu could never do that!" 

"How can you make up so many lies, what is wrong with you?!" screamed Yemeth. He fired a blast at Chibi Trunks's head. He ducked the blast and grabbed Yemeth's hand. He threw him down to the ground and fired two spiraling green discs after him. Yemeth hit and both blasts did not. Yemeth suddenly appeared behind Chibi Trunks's with both green discs in his hands. He slammed both of them into the young Saiya-jins back, causing them to sear the skin and make him scream with pain. 

Trunks was taken aback. 

"You have no weakness," he observed aloud. Yemeth nodded. 

"Give up now, weak earthling. You stand no chance against me, even in your strange long haired form." 

"I will save my planet!" 

Chibi Trunks screamed in rage and locked up in a barrage of punches and kicks with Yemeth. They seemed almost even, and rose higher in the air as each punch was matched and then thrown by the other warrior. When it seemed to not end, the Muk-jin pulled out. Chibi Trunks rushed at him and the alien blurred out of the way. He appeared behind Chibi Trunks, and cackled. A slight chop to the neck knocked Chibi Trunks out effectively and he fell to the ground with Mirai Trunks and Piccolo. 

**--- --- ---**

Gohan lay on the ground, panting. His father was beside him; he was defenseless to fight. He looked up to the sky with his teeth bared and repeatedly tried to transform. He just couldn't bring himself to. 

The sky had begun to darken. This alien takeover had taken over a day, and didn't seem to be ending anytime soon. Goku knew the sun was fading, and a new light would rise to try to take it's place. But the moon could never replace the sun's brightness. The moon seemed as if it was a temporary replacement for the sun. Did it ever have a true purpose? 

What was Goku talking about? He seemed to be going mad. Maybe it was the inevitability that this may be the end of Earth as he had known it. He thought with all his mind, but could not think of a plan to end the terrible reign of the Muk-jins. It was hopeless. 

He looked over to Gohan…he was struggling to get up, but he could see that there was not much fight left in him. Goku couldn't let his son get demolished like this. It was hard enough when he watched Cell beat the living daylights out of him. Goku couldn't let it happen again. 

He looked up for guidance. The moon was full. 

**--- --- ---**

The trees were nothing. They were a blur, and the branches swayed like a skinny pubescent boy as the Saiya-jin prince left his presence behind him. 

Vegeta wished he could hurry up. The rest of the Z-Senshi were definitely having trouble with the Muk-jins, and Vegeta knew he must lend his hand to help. He did not like any of them in particular, but if this planet was destroyed, he knew he would go with it. And that wasn't going to happen. 

He knew he could use the dragon balls to wish him to the spot of the battle, but a strange feeling told Vegeta he would need the two wishes more than ever soon enough. They were going to be important ones. 

**--- --- ---**

Yamcha had always been there with Krillin and Tien. They had been the three humans that could never stand up to the Saiya-jins, or even Piccolo, but they had always tried to keep up. Tien had always been strongest. Especially with his coveted Shin Kikoho attack, Tien was unstoppable against anyone below the power of Piccolo. 

But that had never been enough for anyone. Tien, along with Yamcha and Krillin, could never make contributions to the fight, especially after the bouts on Namek. By the time to the Androids came around, they became useless warriors, just standing around almost pretending they had any kind of role in anything. 

Krillin knew that now was the time he could change that. But Tien was so strong--

Another blast knocked Krillin yards away, his face rubbing into the ground. He was going through a fit of anger, but had no time to unleash his rage on Tien. Like a coward, Tien would not let Krillin get up, and just kept pummeling him with the Shin Kikoho. Each blast of the Shin Kikoho drained Tien, but hurt Krillin even more. He was almost driven into the ground with the next blast. 

Krillin jumped up to avoid the next one. He knew he could not last much longer. Another Kikoho blast blazed by him, searing his shirt. Tien laughed. 

"Krillin, you stand absolutely no chance! You are weak and pathetic! Just join me and we can rule this future together!" 

Tien didn't see Krillin right hand behind his back, slowly charging the Kienzan. The small disc began to spin in his hand, but it was far from ready. 

Tien fired another Kikoho blast at Krillin, and with only one hand, Krillin was forced to take the blow. His face cringed as the white energy overtook him and put him through extreme pain. The golden Kienzan in his hand shimmered as if it would fade, but with all his strength, Krillin kept it alive. 

"What're you hiding their Krillin?" 

Tien flew at Krillin and pummeled him with left and right hands to the face. Each time, Krillin took the hit like a man and still hid the Kienzan from Tien. 

"WHAT ARE YOU HIDING?!" yelled Tien. He tried to peek around Krillin, but the short warrior cleverly shadowed his moves, not showing Tien his final attack. 

Tien screamed. 

The Kienzan was ready. 

Tien grabbed Krillin's hand and pulled it out to reveal the huge golden disc. All three of his eyes widened more than they ever have and Krillin managed to bring out a smile. The Kienzan that Krillin was holding was forced through Tien's body by…you guessed it…Tien. He screamed in shock at the mistake he had made. The Kienzan flew right through Tien and it flew off into the distance. Tien's bottom half dropped to the ground with a thud. He looked at Krillin and he winced. Blood began to spill from his mouth. Krillin slowly led him to the ground and laid him down. He was trying to say something. 

"K-Krillin. I am sorry," said Tien, choking and gasping for breath. 

"But why, Tien? Why kill Yamcha and control the future as you have? WHY?!" said Krillin, the tears beginning to flow. The tears also flowed from Tien. 

"He m-made me." 

"Who made you?" 

"He made me do this. I was too weak to resist. I have paid my debts." 

"But who?" 

Tien pulled Krillin close and whispered into his ear. Krillin gasped and backed away slowly. 

"It isn't true," Krillin tried to protest. 

"But it is Krillin. Do not fear the truth." 

With those words, Tien died, leaving Krillin as the bearer of his secret, one that could change the world forever. 


	12. Chapter Eleven

The night sky shimmered. 

His hair was invisible in the night sky. It had always been a shade of jet black, and nothing was going to change that. It was impossible to change the hair of a Saiya-jin. 

Actually, there were many things that you could never change about a Saiya-jin. His will to battle. His cocky attitude. His "no bullshit" demeanor. His pride. 

Vegeta had the sack of dragon balls full to capacity. He was going to find the Muk-jins, and kick all of their asses. Anyway, no one had seen his new transformation. 

Vegeta sense two powers behind him. He stopped in the air and transformed to Super Saiya-jin, he knew what to prepare for. 

In a blink of an eye, Gremeth swooped down and snatched the seven dragon balls out of Vegeta's hand. He floated in the air above Vegeta and laughed. 

"Not good to keep your guard down, Ginyu," he remarked hastily. Vegeta's eyes narrowed. 

"And to think…even in your advanced stage of golden hair…you still do not have enough wits to catch me? Pathetic." 

Gremeth dropped the bag of dragon balls, and Vegeta didn't even notice Remeth floating under him, who snatched the sack out of the air. 

"Have fun Gremeth," said Remeth, bidding him farewell. He surrounded himself with red energy and flew off towards Goku and Gohan. 

"So Muk-jin," said Vegeta, as Gremeth turned back to him. "I guess the fairy tales are true. Aliens really are scrawny little green men." 

Vegeta screamed in excitement as he surrounded himself with purple energy. 

"Gallic Gun!" he yelled and released the purple beam, which seemed to surprise Gremeth. It struck him dead on in the stomach, causing him to let out a cough-like sound. Gremeth was pushed back several yards, and didn't even try to defend the attack. It finally overwhelmed him, and the purple light soon vanished. 

Gremeth had a hole through him. He quickly recovered it and laughed. 

"You'll need to do better than that, Vegeta!" he taunted. Vegeta's eyes turned to slits. Lightning struck the ground and lit up his face as he stared into Gremeth. 

"It's time for the real battle to begin." 

Vegeta began to grunt. He hunched over and screamed out in what seemed to be pain. Lightning crackled through him as he began to grunt once more. 

Vegeta's eyebrows began to protrude, and then they disappeared. His eyes went from a sea green to a piercing shade of blue. His balding hairline seemed to recede even further, making Vegeta extremely ugly and menacing. Vegeta's hair elongated all the way to hit boots, and the transformation ended. His now pure heart, his sacrifice to defeat Buu, had turned him into a Super Saiya-jin 3. 

Vegeta took two energy balls cupped in his palms and rushed at Gremeth. He missed with two energy-full punches and finally landed one in his stomach, exploding on impact and knocking Gremeth through the air. Vegeta was right there, axe-handling him to the ground. A cloud of dust kicked up and Vegeta was shocked to see Gremeth appear right through it, kicking him in the gut and swinging him around by his hair. Gremeth threw Vegeta up and powered a blast with both hands. He fired it at Vegeta, who batted it away. 

Vegeta threw a ball of orange energy at Gremeth. Before it hit him, it stopped in mid-air, floating in front of the Muk-jin. Vegeta then appeared in front of Gremeth, using the distraction to his advantage. He took the orange ball and hurled it at Gremeth, creating a hole through his midsection. Vegeta knew this would not finish off the green beast. 

He lifted his palm and a blue light grew in his hands. Vegeta flashed his familiar smile. 

"I hope blue's your favorite color…"

**--- --- ---**

One stream of blood ran from his mouth. Another from his left eye, and yet another from a gash in his cheek. 

Krillin was a mess. The fight with Tien had really drained him. He felt lucky that his Kienzan had saved him once again from something that could've turned out pretty bad. 

As he approached the time machine, he noticed a word written on the side. Hope. It was a word of so much caliber and magnitude that Krillin could not even try to measure. He quit staring and climbed into the capsule. He looked at the seat beside him. It was empty. A tear came to his eye when he had remembered his good friend Yamcha. It then rolled down his cheek, washing away the blood, when he realized that Yamcha could never be wished back. He would miss him. 

But he had to help his friends. Krillin closed the glass lid to the time machine. He set the lever to 2002. He was going home. 

He pushed the button. A whirring sound began and there was a flash. Krillin saw white and realized that he was once again in the Room of Spirit & Time. He watched on in wonder as the room's marvels once again came into play. And then he felt a thud. 

Krillin looked down at the controls. On the time dial, it read straight through: ----. Krillin looked around the room. The machine had stopped, so he opened the glass cover and stepped out onto the surface. In the distance a fire was spewing but was of no notice to Krillin right now. He peered around the time machine to see the door of the Room of Spirit & Time. The entrance to the amazing room. 

Krillin assumed that the time machine couldn't enter the door. So he placed his hand on the handle, and pushed. And pushed again. Then pulled. And pulled again. And pushed. And the door would not budge. Krillin was trapped. 

Trapped in time. Krillin could go 20 years in only 20 days. By the time they got him out, he would be long dead…

**--- --- ---**

"And as you can see folks, this strange monstrosity has fallen from the sky into a cornfield. This is one of the strangest things we've ever experienced. Nobody knew where it came from or--"

The television was switched off and the TV reporter disappeared. Chi-Chi threw the remote control at the television. 

"Things just keep getting stranger and stranger! Why can't someone we know tell us exactly what's going on?" she demanded. 

"Oh my God…" said Bulma, clutching her mouth. She had just remembered. The time machine was engineered to use the Room of Spirit & Time. Sure it had made the trip faster, but now the room's entrance was destroyed. How would Yamcha and Krillin get back with news of Tien? Oh this was a disaster. 

But Bulma kept it a secret. For now. 

**--- --- ---**

Goku stood up, now entirely straight. His eyes had gone entirely red, and a growl erupted from his throat. Gohan looked over to his father, who was looking straight up at the full moon. He looked at his tail, twitching. Gohan jumped up. 

"NO DAD!!! DON'T LOOK AT THE MOON! WHO KNOWS WHAT WILL HAPPEN?" he screamed. Gohan rushed over to his father to try to pull him away, but one swipe from his hand sent Gohan sprawling across the ground. He looked up at his father, who seemed to be growing in size. Hair sprouted from all over his body, all of it was brown. He grew to a tremendous size, his face protruding out into a large monkey shape. He finally stood, almost 20 feet, screaming in a roar. And then, in another scream, he erupted into a golden light. A golden aura surrounded him. Goku, the Golden Oozaru. 

**--- --- ---**

The Big Bang began to form in Vegeta's hand. Gremeth groaned in pain from the last attack and saw Vegeta charging. He immediately brought both arms to his chest and crossed them in a blocking fashion. Vegeta didn't look to be stopping the attack, and the blue energy erupted from his palm, enveloping Gremeth with the blue light. Vegeta even had to shield his eyes from its brightness as it swarmed over his adversary. 

Finally, Vegeta opened his eyes and saw nothing. Behind him, a swift chop struck him dead on in the neck, and just like his son, Vegeta dropped like a fly. 


	13. Chapter Twelve

NOTE: In the last chapter, after witnessing Goku turn into a Golden Oozaru, Gohan fainted from exhaustion (from his fight) and disbelief. I forgot to add that in. Sorry. 

**--- --- ---**

_Surpassed again._

Vegeta had finally arrived at the battle. That wimp, Gremeth, had been able to knock him out from behind like a wuss, but not Vegeta was back, and was taking no prisoners. He transformed into Super Saiya-jin 3 as quickly as possible and faced all five of them. Remeth, Gremeth, Bremeth, Blemeth, and Yemeth floated in the air, their usual cackle echoing throughout the night. Lightning struck the ground and illuminated their dull bodies. 

Remeth floated forward, leaving a trail of confidence behind him. The sky was pitch black, and all that could be seen were the five colors. The Muk-jin colors that were imbedded in Vegeta's mind. But he would defeat them this time. They stood no chance. 

Vegeta's rain soaked fist punched at Remeth, but he was gone. Vegeta looked around for some answers but all he heard were cackles from the other four Muk-jin. Vegeta screamed and fired two blasts at Gremeth and Blemeth, but they both vanished as well. He flew straight at where they had been and looked around. 

He looked up and caught the side of yellow and brown. Vegeta threw a kick at Yemeth's head, but Yemeth disappeared. He threw a spiraling yellow disc at Bremeth, and he was the last to depart. The sky was empty. 

But then Vegeta saw a glow in the sky similar to his. It was golden all right, but no sort of Super Saiya-jin. It was a beast, an invincible monster bestowed upon with powers beyond belief. It screamed in rage as he sent Remeth down with a swipe of his mighty arm. The red Muk-jin hit the ground with a sickening thud; clear lifeblood spilled out of his body like a broken glass of water. Around him, the scene was the same. Four other aliens, all in a pool of their own innards. 

Vegeta let out a yell that rivaled the heavens. And the clouds opened, letting the rain beat down on his body, soaking him in the chilling liquid that flowed forth from the dark abyss. A clap of thunder erupted from the sky and rebounded off of every object on Earth, all of them contributing to the explosion of sound. 

This adversary had defeated him, surpassed him, and eliminated the threat. The first thought that came to Vegeta's mind was the one being who always had been one step ahead of him…

**--- --- ---**

_Non-existent._

Chibi Trunks stood there and watched the massacre. All five Muk-jins, the definitions of his nightmares. There was nothing in particular about them that scared Trunks. They were just five colored creatures. They were perfectly humanoid; they didn't have insect-like arms or slimy skin. 

But there was something about the Muk-jins that seemed to strike fear into every chamber of his heart. He didn't know what is was yet, but it seemed that each one of them had an eminence about them that just plain frightened you, and there was no easy way to explain it. 

Goten lay on the ground as each alien jumped on top of him, all five of them alternating turns on driving both feet into his stomach. Goten screamed out in pain at each time they hit him, but couldn't even scream for he was choking on his own blood. Trunks powered up to Super Saiya-jin 2 and tried to attack Remeth, who was about to come down at Goten. But he went right through him. He stopped in mid-air, turned, and tried a spinning heel kick at Blemeth's head. And he went right through. They all laughed as they took turns firing multicolored painful energy blasts into Goten's defeated body. There was no remorse in their hearts, and Trunks knew that. 

He tried all he could to stop them, but Trunks had no effect on the Muk-jins. Every time he went through their bodies, they pumped more energy into Goten. Trunks could feel him fading fast. 

His greatest fears were imagined when all five of them formed a pentagon in the air. Trunks floated in front of Goten, willing to do anything to protect his lifelong friend. He wouldn't let these aliens, these monsters from outer space kill his friend. He was only 13 years old, and it wasn't his time to go yet. 

Trunks put both hands out in front of him as a large black blast formed in the middle of their five star formation and began to grow to an incredible size. All five of them struggled to contain it, and then released it, aiming straight for Goten. Trunks screamed and with all he had he exploded into Super Saiya-jin 3 and thrust his hands forwards to stop the bomb. But the black energy ignored Trunks, and headed straight for his best friend. 

**--- --- ---**

_Don't belong._

He lay dead on the ground, his father that never was looked at him in shock, his eyes wider than ever before, but the dull black pupil never changing. From behind them a creature stood laughing, as he always was, a laugh that always had haunted Mirai Trunks. His body was covered with dark green spots, and wherever they weren't was a lighter shade of green. Two thick purple lines fenced in his face, and in the middle it was a pale white. But his face was surprisingly human, for a creature created from the cells of many warriors past. The death beam of the former tyrant, Freeza, had penetrated the weak Saiya-jin armor Vegeta had insisted Trunks wear. He fell to the ground, dead on impact. 

Now here he was again. Back in the future, where his fate had once been sealed, but now was reopened to him. But once again, he was useless in this world; unable to comprehend their new powers, how Buu had changed them all into warriors he couldn't compete with. He was now below them, his greatest accomplishment being the mastery of Super Saiya-jin 2. He had become irrelevant, in a world where he didn't belong. 

**--- --- ---**

_A new responsibility._

From the two fingers held to his chest, a faint white electric spark began to sizzle. Piccolo felt a jolt of pain course through his body, realizing that the energy he was trying to control was a bit much for him. 

He had fired a Makansappo before, but he had never put as much power into one. And for good reason. The long haired fiend standing in front of him was no joke. He looked exactly like a human, with what seemed like a large green eyeglass over his left eye and a slender long tail twitching around behind him. His own brother was squeezing the tail against his body. Yes, Goku (or Kakarotto, as Radditz had called him) was holding on to his brother for dear life, waiting with anticipation for the moment that Piccolo would release his deadly Makansappo and send them both into the Afterlife. Sweat poured down his forehead. He wished he didn't have to wait so long, it seemed that the Namek-jin had been charging the relatively small beam for days. 

Piccolo continued to grunt as the Makansappo began to take form in his hand. Seconds later, it was finished. He fired. 

Piccolo would never forget the way Goku's Gi had begun to push outwards from behind, then burst with the power from his beam. From that day forward, Piccolo and Goku had been allies in a war against evil. But Piccolo had never played a major part again. Yes, he had done well to delay Freeza's second form, and put a hold on Android 17. But Piccolo never really had a great responsibility in helping the Z-Senshi after the fall of Freeza. 

But now, now the dragon balls' power was vested in him. He kept the seven orange globes alive, glinting in the light, so they could make their wishes. His role had been chosen. 

**--- --- ---**

_Fearful of the anger._

All of his friends lay on the ground. They were not dead, just unconscious, and could easily recover. But only if the enemy was destroyed. The dark being floated in the air, pointing at Gohan. 

There was no devious laugh, a trait all previous villains had shown. No energy was felt from it, and no emotion. It showed no fear nor anger, joy or sadness. The creature was nothing at all, a shadow of itself. 

But Gohan knew what it was. It was not one but five. Five, a number that would lurk in the depths of Gohan's mind, sneaking through his subconscious. And it scared Gohan. He wanted to know what this shadow was, what it was made up of, and why it was here. But everything was unclear to Gohan. No questions could be answered, and none could be asked. It was a time of nothingness. 

Gohan was the last warrior left. The only way to defeat this "shadow" was to unleash the depths of his anger, more than he ever had before. But could the creature cause Gohan's power source to come alive. Or would it just push him deeper and deeper into the depression, the thought that he could never unleash his true potential, and never reveal his true self? Would he ever be able to? 

**--- --- ---**

Vegeta, Chibi Trunks, Mirai Trunks, Piccolo, and Gohan regained consciousness, escaping their dreams. They glared up at the sky, eyes locked on the full moon. 


	14. Chapter Thirteen

Revenge. 

That was all that was on his mind. He knew he had to avenge every single person that was on planet Muk that day. No one would get away. No one would escape Remeth's rage. 

Remeth looked down at the sack of orange balls, pushed back by the wind so they flew horizontally along with him. A gleam peered through the inside, and curiously Remeth pulled one out. He inspected it. The outsides seemed to be coated with a layer of light. Inside was a dull orange, with queer inscribings. On this particular one, six stars were imprinted on the ball in red. 

He hadn't known their purpose. He never would've known, if it had not been for HIM. HE had told Remeth what to take, and who to destroy. It was HIM who told Remeth that they were dragon balls, and had the ability to grant the owner two wishes. Remeth did not know what wishes HE yearned for, or why, but he followed HIS orders, he did as he was told. 

And HE told Remeth a great power was coming. Remeth didn't believe at first, so he scoffed. But HE did not lie. Remeth still was very unsure of the power of this "being," but he followed HIS orders. The Muk-jins were regrouping. 

Remeth felt a power ahead, and his head whipped forward. In the motion, the dragon ball fell from his hand. Remeth didn't even notice his mistake as Gremeth halted in front of him. 

"Remeth, this one was quite a challenge!" complained Gremeth. Remeth grunted. 

"Shut up Gremeth. How could you have a problem with one of the Ginyu? That is utterly pathetic!" 

"But Remeth, his hair went long. And his fighting tactics were strong. Luckily, I was able to knock him out." 

"Pussy…"

"What was that?!" 

"You heard what I said, Gremeth. You couldn't even win the battle fairly. You disgust me." Remeth shook his head. 

"Well Remeth, the last fight I saw you in, the double warrior beat the tar out of you. Isn't that correct?" shot back Gremeth. Remeth shook his head. 

"Yes, it was a powerful transformation. But it's a little too complicated for that brain of yours, green bean. It was only temporary. HE informed me it only lasted merely thirty minutes." 

Yemeth slowly flew up behind them. 

"Took all three down, easy as pie!" he said, cackling. Remeth and Gremeth slapped their foreheads. 

"Quiet down, piss-boy. We don't care about your destruction of the weaklings! Though our friend Gremeth here had a bit of trouble," chuckled Remeth. Gremeth growled, but it was broken up with the arrival of Blemeth and Bremeth. 

"We are here. Let's get this going. I was having fun with the weak one," said Blemeth. Bremeth laughed, agreeing. 

"Listen up. HE has told us there is a great being coming into play. We must merge into our ultimate form, or we stand no chance. Now I know this sounds…"

"Ridiculous? Well there ya go Remeth, 'cause that is ridiculous. There is no way in hell we are doing that. I'll tell you something; I am fine just as it is. They stand no chance against our normal forms anyway! So what's with this?" challenged Gremeth. Bremeth nodded his head. 

"I agree, Remeth. With the results so far, why do we need to merge? It doesn't make sense!" 

"Do you want to take it up with HIM? Because you can. It's fine with me. But for now, you follow **my** orders!" 

"I've had it!" screamed Gremeth. He floated in front of Remeth's face, almost touching. 

"Our p-planet. Our people. These sick, these sick bastards took that all away from us. Now I don't know about you, but I am going to get revenge by myself, and for myself. I'm not gonna share it with you four. Now y-you listen to me!" he screamed with anger. "I am gonna go down there and kick this "great being's" ass! And then you can come and look at it's dead body when I'm done. Do…you…under…stand…me?" 

Remeth nodded. 

"Do as you please, Gremeth. I'm not willing to stop you, especially since you are in one of your temper tantrums." The rest of them laughed and Gremeth turned away. In a flash of green light, he shot towards the great power. 

**--- --- ---**

It started out in the lungs. They began to pulsate, vibrating with great fury. It then traveled up the throat at breakneck speed, with no intentions of stopping. It was filtered by the vocal chords, and then erupted from the mouth. 

The scream echoed through the land, breaking glass in every building, and causing every human being to cover their ears in sheer pain from the sonic boom-like roar. The air seemed to quiver and waver, as if the roar was breaking through the very fabric of it. The mouth was clear to see. It was light brown, along with the rest of the face. But the scary part was the eyes. 

The eyes were dull and devoid of life. One who looked at them would pass them off as emotionless. There were no pupils, or different colors. Just a deep red. And they seemed to peer right through you. They could discover your deepest fears and use them against you. It was not a good idea to look into the eyes of an Oozaru. 

But there was something scarier…besides the fact that a giant ape towering 20 meters was screaming at the top of its lungs. It was the color. The ape was totally golden, the same color as a Super Saiya-jin. It looked exactly like an Oozaru, and the hands and feet were still a light brown. But the rest of the body, the fur seemed to have been dipped in gold. It was a strange site indeed. But the power coming from Goku, the Golden Oozaru was more immense than anything anyone had ever felt before. 

"Hey you!" screamed a voice that seemed insignificant to the beast. It turned around and let out another guttural roar. Gremeth pointed at its head. 

"I swear on my life, and on the Muk-jins you murdered, that I will stop you. You have killed enough. You have caused enough to cry. You have done as you pleased." 

Gremeth paused, and floated up to eye level with the golden beast. 

"But now Ginyu…you die." 

**--- --- ---**

"I can't believe this," muttered Mirai Trunks, dusting himself off after his brutal beating at the hands of the yellow creature. He was disgusted with himself, too weak to stop one warrior. And to imagine there were four more…the thought was unbearable to him. 

He pushed it out of his mind, helping up Piccolo. Piccolo shook his head, trying to get the bugs out. He slowly walked a few yards away to retrieve his turban and cape. The cape had a hole in it, in which he had cleverly devised that plan to shoot his Makansappo through it, while it hid him. Well, at least Piccolo thought he had defeated the alien for a short while, but his thoughts were shattered when Yemeth made toast out of him. Piccolo sighed. He was weak. But he needed to remember…he still had a role. He was Guardian of the Earth, and protector of the dragon balls. 

After he had adjusted his turban and donned his cape, Piccolo turned to both Chibi Trunks, seeming to size him up. 

"Listen. You are very strong Trunks. You have even reached Super Saiya-jin 3. But that won't be enough to defeat the Muk-jins. You will need to fuse with someone. You could always…oh wait…" Piccolo hung his head down in shame. He had not meant to say that. Two tears formed in the eyes of Chibi Trunks. 

"Trunks…I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. But listen to me. You are grown up now. You are almost the size of all of us. Which means you can fuse. Now you can't fuse with your father. He is too old, and I'm not sure if those from the same family can form one. But Gohan…if we can find him, you can fuse. We need to act quickly. Let's go Mirai Trunks," urged Piccolo. 

"No," was the response from the man of the future. 

"What do you mean?" asked Piccolo impatiently. 

"I mean that I'm not going. I am going to get back to my time, no matter what it takes. I am going to find out why Tien took my time machine, and why Krillin and Yamcha haven't returned. I need to know." 

"As you wish. I understand. You don't belong here, and you want to return." 

"Yes, and I'm worried about my own timeline. I am the last defender of it. I can't let anything happen to my people, especially my mother." 

"Bye Trunks. It was nice to meet you again," said Mirai's younger counterpart. Mirai Trunks slowly walked to Chibi Trunks and embraced him. He then did the same to Piccolo. 

"May luck be with you, my Namek-jin friend," said Mirai Trunks, turning away. 

"Luck has nothing to do with it," answered Piccolo, as the man from the future lifted up into the air and disappeared into the distance. Piccolo smiled. 

"But good luck anyhow," he muttered under his breath. 

Piccolo then remembered the task at hand, and located the energy of the wounded Gohan. 

"He's alive. Let's go." 

**--- --- ---**

The dragon balls were gone. And Vegeta was going to get them back, no matter what. Those alien jerks were going to pay. And it would be at the hands of the Saiya-jin Prince. 

Vegeta knew this. He once again, stood up straight. He was never very tall, but his pure arrogance and confidence always kept him standing. Vegeta saw the gold flicker in the distance. The Golden Oozaru. The true Super Saiya-jin. 

**--- --- ---**

The giant hand snatched for Gremeth, but he quickly darted out of the way. The hand was unlike the rest of the body, brown with fingernails that were pitch black. The edges of them gleamed with their cracked, sharp edges. They could cut through steel without the slightest discrepancy. 

Gremeth jumped on top of the hand and bent back a finger. Goku screamed in pain and swatted Gremeth off of his hand, sending him off into the distance. Goku erupted in anger, and a golden aura formed around his massive body. He grabbed Gremeth in his hand and tossed him into the air. His mouth opened up and he fired a blue blast that burned Gremeth's entire body. 

Gremeth hit the ground hard, with black scorch marks all over his green body. Goku's foot appeared above, and Gremeth managed to slip away just before the sole of Goku's foot crushed him. Goku screamed in rage and fired a kick at Gremeth, who put his hands out to stop it. 

Goku's foot continued to push, while Gremeth tried for dear life to hold it back. Eventually, it was too much and he let go. Goku dove after him, snatching with his giant hands, and grabbed Gremeth. It was hard for Goku's Oozaru body to upright itself, so he let himself remain on the ground while he held Gremeth up in front of him. Goku rolled to his back, and he snout formed an enormous smile as he squeezed Gremeth. 

For a few minutes, Goku continued the hold, not bothering to let go, for his Oozaru rage would not allow it. When finally Gremeth had lost consciousness and Goku was bored, he cast him into the distance and up righted himself. Goku screamed in a battle cry of victory, as he watched Gremeth sail through the air, back to where he'd come from. 

**--- --- ---**

Gremeth skidded to a half in front of Remeth, Yemeth, Blemeth, and Bremeth. They all nodded their heads, as if silently agreeing without anything being said. They all lowered to the ground, and Blemeth hoisted Gremeth up. He was in bad shape, battered and out of it. Remeth walked over and placed his hands on Gremeth. With his healing power of blood, Gremeth was restored to normal. He looked at Remeth. 

"Nightmare. He is a nightmare." 

All of them nodded in agreement. Then Remeth broke the silence: 

"The merger. It begins now." 

**--- --- ---**

_Ah Kakarotto…good to see you back in tip-top shape. Goku was too weak for my liking. _

The dreams. The loss of consciousness. The senzu. 

And now you are ready. My creation. It is my turn in the spotlight for once. 

With your help, they will all soon bow down to me. I will rule once again. 

And by the stroke of midnight, I will show my true identity. 


	15. Chapter Fourteen

Mirai Trunks arrived at the Capsule Corporation. The world was dark once again, as it had been when he had first arrived in their timeline. Trunks had been looking for a good time, a time to catch up on old friends and see how they were doing. But instead, all he got…was this. A huge problem, with aliens and warrior hundreds of times stronger than him. He just thanked God that his timeline didn't have as many problems.

The Capsule Corporation building looked so empty and deserted. He didn't want to look at it. It looked as if something was lost there, and would never be returned. Trunks didn't know how to comprehend it. 

When he entered, he saw Bulma, Chi-Chi, and Pan all sleeping on the couch. Pan was in Chi-Chi's lap, seeming to cling to her in fear. Trunks let them be and continued on to the laboratory. 

It was deserted. Trunks looked around, but couldn't seem to find any trace of a time machine. He decided to check with Bulma to see if she knew where it was. 

He reentered the main room, and looked at her face. Technically, this wasn't really his mother, but he always thought of her to be so beautiful. Her fair face and how her hair matched her sparkling eyes. Trunks loved her always, it didn't matter which Bulma, past of present. 

He slowly shook her, and her eyes opened to look at him. She didn't look surprised. She thought that she may be seeing one of the Z-Senshi sooner of later. She was always willing to help. 

"Trunks, not my Trunks, but Trunks," she said breathlessly. "How are you?" 

"I'm all right, but not everyone else is." 

Trunks helped her up and she rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes. 

"There was something I was meaning to tell you Trunks. You see, I built a new time machine…"

"That's great!" Trunks exclaimed. "Now I can go back to my timeline!" 

"Well, it's not that simple. You see, I sent Krillin and Yamcha in the time machine to retrieve Tien, who as you know left in your time machine…"

Trunks looked down in shame. It was his fault Tien had gotten away. He was so lazy, and felt so guilty. 

"Now you see, the time machine I built was designed to travel through the Room of Spirit & Time. But there's a problem. It was knocked down by one of the Muk-jin…"

"Oh my god! NO!" screamed Trunks. "How will I ever get back to my world? And what about Krillin, Yamcha, and Tien? Why didn't they take the other time machine here?" 

"I don't know, Trunks. I'm as confused as you are. But you need to do something for me. You must go to the wreckage of the Lookout, and try to find a way into the Room. I think that may be the answer to our problems." 

Trunks and Bulma embraced, and then he left, winking at the only Bulma left in his life. For his real mother had already passed on. 

**--- --- ---**

Piccolo and Chibi Trunks landed behind a large boulder. They scanned the area and saw nothing. It seemed as if the field was empty. Trunks curiously rounded the boulder and began to search the field. The grass was extremely high, making it very hard to make out anything in the field. 

But they had sensed the power here, and Trunks would find it. He knew it was weak, but he also knew it was their only chance of defeating the Muk-jins. 

"Got him!" screamed a voice in the background. Trunks's head turned faster than a bullet, to see Piccolo's smiling face standing over a body clothed in orange. Trunks walked over, and looked down at his fallen comrade. Gohan's face was masked with patches of blood. It looked as if a bomb had exploded near Gohan, and this was what was left of him. No normal being could withstand the pain he had felt. 

"Gohan…" whispered Trunks, pulling him near. He wanted Gohan to hear. Gohan's eyes began to twitch, and they opened ever so slightly, so Gohan could see Trunks. 

"Get up, Gohan. There is no time for rest. No time to recuperate." 

In the background, Piccolo nodded. He looked on as the two men bonded. Yes, Trunks could be considered a man now. After all he had been through, and how he had grown. It just seemed right to Piccolo. Gohan's lips began to tremble. 

"I c-cant. I'm too weak," he managed to sputter out. Trunks shook his head. 

"You don't understand Gohan! You must! There is no other way!" 

Gohan just shook his head and began to drift off again…

"Goten is dead! Get up Gohan! Your brother has been murdered. 

With that, Gohan's eyes shot open, wider than before. He looked at Trunks in his deep blue eyes, trying to detect a lie. Gohan saw nothing. 

Piccolo looked on intently as Trunks reached down to help Gohan off of his feet. But Gohan swatted his hand away, and righted himself on his left knee. Using his right arm, Gohan managed to push himself off of the ground and stand. He was hunched over, and weak. He shouldn't have been standing, but under the circumstances, it was the least he could do. 

"G-Gohan…" stammered Piccolo, amazed at the boy's valiance. He was then deafened by a scream that shook the ground. Rocks began to rise up from the Earth's surface, surrounding Gohan and filling the air. 

All around, for miles away, the trees began to shake and the wind blasted its way through them. The Earth's animals tilted their heads to the source of the great power. 

And it was Gohan, standing there, surrounded with an aura made of pure gold. His hair had sprung from his head until it could stand no more, and touched the ground. He was the last Saiya-jin to attain it, the mythical stage of Super Saiya-jin 3. 

Many say it was a stage not triggered from anger. But Gohan knew it wrong. For his other style of fighting, known as Mystic, was very strong, but wasn't fueled by rage. And all of them knew that Gohan's true power came from his rage, as he had done when he defeated Cell. 

Gohan's eyes were now as blue as Trunks's. Narrow and colder, they were, and full of hatred. He looked strangely reminiscent of his father. And Gohan didn't even know his father was once again the strongest being on the planet…

Not that it was a good thing. 

Gohan heard clapping behind him. Disturbed, he turned to see the Namek-jin, Piccolo, shaking his head. Trunks simply hung his head. 

"Your anger has reached up with you once again, Gohan. And it's a good thing. That Mystic level was a waste, now you know the true depths of power." 

"How would you know, Piccolo? You're just a weak Namek-jin now! You are like a father to me…yet you clap at a time like this? My brother has been killed by aliens that utterly defeated me. Do you understand? I want to take his place. I wish I was the one killed, so my baby brother could live. How dare you mock me?" 

"That's it, Gohan. Let your anger guide you…"

"HOW DARE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Gohan. He flew at Piccolo in a rage from the deepest hells, but stopped right in front of him. Slowly, Gohan's hair retracted and he fell back into his normal state. Then he collapsed to the ground. 

Piccolo looked a bit shaken, as did Trunks. 

"Just as I thought. Gohan wasn't ready for Super Saiya-jin 3. It is a stage meant to be reached by training, and if reached by anger, it can be very hard to sustain…even lethal to the user," explained Piccolo. Trunks nodded as he slung Gohan over his shoulders. 

In the distance, a roar erupted. The heavens seemed to tremble from its ferocity. Piccolo turned to Trunks. 

"It's time to go." 

**--- --- ---**

No Remeth! I will destroy that inferior beast!!!" Yemeth tightened his grip, and Gremeth looked around at all of his comrades. 

"Help me out guys! Get him off! I can take that guy!" 

All of the Muk-jins shook their heads. 

"Quiet down, Gremeth," said Remeth calmly. "You and I both know that he is incredibly strong, and you stand no chance…"

"He is a Ginyu! He destroyed us! He is weak!" 

"Well then Gremeth, explain why he knocked you several kilometers away without hesitation. Explain all of the scratches and bumps surrounding your body." 

Gremeth stumbled for words. 

"Well then, smart one, what do we do? 5 on 1?" taunted Gremeth. Remeth shook his head. 

"Even the power of five of us would not affect that monster. We must merge, as I told you before. And it will be permanent. But at least then we shall have our sweet revenge." 

"No way Rem…there's…"

"Enough out of you Gremeth," said Remeth unhappily. "We let you have your fun last time, and you proved yourself a failure. Now listen up everyone." 

"What is it? I'm getting sick of standing around! I need to fight!" complained Bremeth. The rest of them agreed. 

"Well maybe if you'd listen, Bremeth, I'd explain it to you. HE has informed me that we may use the first wish as we please. HE does want the second though, so don't just blurt out some dumb wish, or you may displease HIM. HE has also given me the words to recite exactly. So Blemeth, if you'd be so kind to hand me the sack." 

Blemeth retrieved the sack and handed it to Remeth, who then dumped it onto the ground. 

"Now let's see here…two…four…six…hey, weren't there supposed to be seven?" 

"When that big idiot sent me sprawling back here, I managed to grab a ball during my little 'flight.' I guess this could help out," explained Gremeth grumpily. He produced the six star dragon ball from his hand and gave it to Remeth. 

"You know Gremeth, you really aren't that bad after all," said Remeth as he tossed the ball into the pile. All seven of them illuminated. 

"Now let's hear it," said Blemeth impatiently. 

"Eternal Dragon, by your name I summon you forth! Shenlong!" shouted Remeth to the orange balls. In a flash of light, the balls all illuminated into a searing white that none of them could look at. Suddenly, a huge eruption occurred from the seven balls and Shenlong, the Eternal Dragon, came shooting out of the balls, in his long glory. His eyes were dull red, eyes that reminded Gremeth of Oozaru Goku's, and sent fear through his body. 

Shenlong was finally complete, and he hunched over as usual, in his long snake-like shape, inquiring Remeth. 

"What do you desire?" asked the dragon impatiently. 

"Shenlong, fuse us five Muk-jin into one being." 

"Your wish is granted," said Shenlong. His eyes illuminated and suddenly, all five Muk-jins were pulled together, into one being. A large black cloud surrounded them, and when it finally disappeared, a new creature was formed. 

It was just like the other Muk-jin, except a bit larger. But the difference was that it was jet black. Its body was almost invisible against the night sky, no doubt an advantage in battle. 

The new being floated away from the dragon. 

"What is your second wish?" called Shenlong from afar. But the black Muk-jin was ignoring him. He lifted his arms, checking them out. He seemed pleased. 

"I, Shadeth, shall destroy that beast and then avenge my planet!" chuckled the merged Muk-jin known as Shadeth. He powered a black aura around him and laughed to the skies. It seemed to resonate throughout the land, scaring everything that heard it. But one was not scared. 

"You'll have to get through me first," said a voice from behind Shadeth. 


	16. Chapter Fifteen

Shadeth whirled around in the night sky. Not many could see, for his color matched the blackness of the night. But there was a faint white aura surrounding him, and he was somewhat visible.

Piccolo smiled from the ground, his cape swaying in the wind. He just wished that Shadeth had a face, because he would've loved to see the look on it. For all he had put them through…killing Goten, and seriously injuring all of the others. Piccolo hated all five Muk-jins. And now, with all of them combined into one, he was able to focus his hate into one place. 

Back up in the air, Shadeth looked taken aback. 

"You…another Ginyu? But you look--"

"Enough," replied the newly arrived warrior. "Don't waste your time pondering who I am, or what you think I am. You are five in one. Five, mislead, disgusting, heartless aliens put into one body. I actually pity you." 

"B-But…who are you?" asked Shadeth nervously. The man was about the same size of all the "Ginyu" members he had previously battled. His hair was entirely lavender, and stood up on end. He was wearing a vest that just covered his shoulders, and it was colored orange and green. His body was built like a chiseled statue; all of the right muscles in all of the right places, not bulging but not wimpy either. He donned black pants and boots of the same color. 

"You can call me Trohan. I am the fused entity of Trunks and Gohan. It may seem like a strange name, but you'll learn to accept it in the next hour or so. Actually, you may learn to worship it," explained Trohan calmly. There was no expression on his face, just like Shadeth. 

"I don't care what your name is. Do you think you will stop me? Have you seen what each of us can do individually? Why are you so different?" asked Shadeth. Trohan's eyes squinted, and he stared an invisible hole into Shadeth's forehead. 

"Because…I am not powered by strength, like the others. My power does not lie in training, but lies in the anger that lives inside me. An anger fueled by death." 

Shadeth slowly floated up to Trohan. He looked him over, shaking his head the whole way. He then began to laugh. Where it was coming from, no one could tell, but it was indeed a cackle of epic proportions. 

Trohan looked with a blank stare as Shadeth continued making a fool of himself. He was becoming sick of the fool. 

"Tell me Shadeth…do you enjoy making a fool of yourself?" 

Shadeth stopped dead. 

His laughing ceased and he began to grunt. 

"No one…mocks me…"

"Wow, that's weird, because I think I just did," said Trohan calmly. He was ready when the fist came for him. Even Piccolo's scream of alert was unnecessary, as Trohan caught Shadeth's right fist at incredible speed. 

It seemed as if his left hand had disappeared from his side and reappeared in place for the merged Muk-jin's hand. As he caught it, the grunting ceased, and Shadeth powered all of his energy into his fist. He continued to push with all of his strength, but all Trohan could do was stare deep into him with his dark blue eyes; eyes that seemed to never close. 

In a fraction of a second, Trohan twisted his body and took Shadeth's fist along with it. When he was back in normal position, Shadeth's fist has been twisted at a full 360-degree angle. It was plain to see that Shadeth's innards, whatever they consisted of, were greatly damaged in the left hand. 

In other words, his wrist was completely demolished. Trohan let the arm fall, his eyes following it to the creature's side. It hung limp for a second, and Shadeth looked down at his wrist. Trohan could tell his face was distorted in agony, whether he had one or not. 

**--- --- ---**

The dark boot touched the soft ground at the site where all of the Earth citizens were gathered. Mirai Trunks didn't really care if they saw him; this wasn't his timeline, not his Earth. He was becoming truly sick of it. He wanted to go back to his time, where he could rebuild the land, and where he could go back to his old normal friends. Back to where he could pretend he was a true human…a place where Saiya-jins didn't exist. 

Trunks slowly trudged through the crowd, each step seeming to sink into the ground. He observed the people, who thought it so amazing that there was an enormous dome implanted into the ground. Trunks knew it was no dome, but actually the Lookout, the place where Dende and Mr. Popo lived. But it was no more. The civilians were almost right…it was a dome. 

What shocked the people even more was the giant black man they had found dead near the site of the accident. He was strangely inhuman, and wore strange clothing, namely a turban and a vest. His body looked to have been crushed, probably from the fall. 

Many said it was an alien attack, but Trunks knew they were all fools. He wished he could tell them all to be quiet. But it wouldn't be fair. It wasn't their fault that they were so naïve, so unable to comprehend that the world was changing around them, and that they wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for the lavender-haired man rudely pushing his way through the crowd. 

When Trunks finally arrived at the police line, he stepped over it politely, making sure not to break it. He trudged up to Mr. Popo's expired body, and picked it up. 

"Hey you! What do you think you're doing!?" screamed a cop from behind Trunks. He just looked at him with a stare that seemed to scare the man back. Trunks didn't need any of this. 

He looked at Mr. Popo's whose eyes were closed. He looked to be calm, and on his face it seemed that he had formed a smile. Trunks took a large amount of energy and blew a decent-sized hole in the ground. He lowered Mr. Popo's body into it, and buried it up quickly. 

"Good luck in the next world, Mr. Popo. I wish you the best," said Trunks solemnly. He looked around at the audience, and they all were looking at him strangely, wondering why the police would not intervene. 

Ignoring their shouts once again, Trunks trudged over to the fallen Lookout. He touched it, producing a cold chill that ran up his arm. Without provocation, Trunks took both hands and lifted the entire Lookout over his head. He flew up into the air and dropped it on its bottom end, so it landed with the flat end facing up. Trunks landed on the top. It was a mess. The building that stood and housed the Room of Spirit & Time had been completely demolished; pieces of it had been driven into the floor of the Lookout. Some pieces of the walls had been driven into the floor so hard that they were almost irremovable. 

And there it was. Lying in front of Trunks was simply a door. It was covered in rubble, but Trunks simply pushed it away. Even though it lay on the ground, Trunks opened it to reveal the white interior. He had nothing to lose. Trunks stepped in. 

**--- --- ---**

Shadeth chuckled in Trohan's face, amidst the pain he was experiencing. Even Trohan looked confused, as he was almost certain that he had greatly damaged Shadeth's wrist, almost tearing it from his arm. 

"You almost forget, stupid warrior. You may be strong, but I am Remeth, and Remeth is part of me. So I contain his healing powers. Fool." 

Trohan looked down as Shadeth's hand untwisted and slowly began to take shape again. And before Trohan could say a word, the Muk-jin's hand had been fully healed and was ready for battle once again. 

"I think I'd like to try out this hand once again…" muttered Shadeth, launching his left fist at Trohan once again. This time, instead of catching it, Trohan tilted his head to the right, dodging the blow by a fraction of an inch. Shadeth followed it up with a kick, and caught Trohan unsuspected. The blow entered deep into his stomach, twisting around his internal organs and putting a look of anguish on his face. Shadeth followed up with another punch to the chest, sending Trohan staggering back through the air. He then appeared behind the fused warrior and tried to chop him into unconsciousness, as all the others had gone down. 

But Trohan knew this trick. He flipped in a total somersault as Shadeth attempted the chop, and Trohan stopped the black creatures hand with his foot, as he was suspended in the air upside down. In this state, Trohan screamed and his body turned golden, as well as his hair, which stood up on his head, changing it to gold. His eyebrows followed suit, and his eyes changed to a sea green. Trohan grabbed Shadeth's outstretched hand, and with all his strength, flung him at the ground. 

Piccolo looked up to barely see the black figure spiraling down towards him. He smiled as Trohan fired a large blue blast at Shadeth, impacting him as he fell, and increasing his speed. Right before Shadeth exploded with impact on the ground, he stopped. 

He was now standing on the ground. Piccolo's mouth was open in awe. The blue blast that Trohan had fired down was still in Shadeth's hands, so he flung it aside directly at Piccolo. Trohan's eyes widened above. 

Piccolo put both hand across his chest, putting all of the effort in his body to block the blue blast. He knew that he couldn't die. If he did, any Z-Senshi who died would never be restored. The blast was right in front of Piccolo now…he knew his life could end…

"NOOOOO!!!!!" he screamed, fearing the inevitable. 

But it stopped. Instead, Piccolo heard the sound of a man screaming in pain, as Trohan had taken the hit for Piccolo. The blast disappeared as it blew Trohan back, causing him to land right in front of Piccolo. Knowing he could help, Piccolo placed his hands on Trohan. 

"You won't get this opportunity again! I'll heal you now, so make the most of it!" screamed Piccolo in Trohan's ear as he restored his body with his newly acquired healing powers, courtesy of Dende. 

Piccolo smiled as he saw the warrior raise again, Trohan was more ready than ever. But before he resumed the battle, he turned to Piccolo. 

"Piccolo…you are the most important being here. You must--"

"Trohan, I understand. I will go. And when I return, this monstrosity will be lying on the ground, dead from malicious wounds. Is that correct?" Piccolo asked. Trohan managed to smile. 

"Yes it is, Piccolo. Your wish will be granted. Now go!" screamed Trohan. Piccolo nodded his head and formed a white aura around his body. He shot off into the distance without looking back. Trohan turned back to Shadeth. 

"Enough with the sentiments…let's get the real battle started!" screamed Shadeth impatiently. 

"Are you kidding me? That was only a warm-up!" challenged Trohan. Before Shadeth could answer, a roar erupted from the distance. Both heads shot to the east, arriving on the face of Oozaru Goku, who was slowly stomping towards them. 

"You will have to wait, as you say your name…Trohan. I need to deal with that crazy ape first." 

"What, are you scared Muk-jin? Scared that I can beat you?" 

"Nonsense!" shot back Shadeth. "I just need to deal with him, and then I will destroy you as well, and end your Ginyu race for good." 

And then Shadeth and Trohan felt another energy. It wasn't nearly as strong as either of them, but still confident in it's own way. They looked up from the ground, and above them, floating, was the Saiya-jin Prince, Vegeta. He had a usual sneer on his face. He was already in his Super Saiya-jin form, ready to use it at will. 

"You just don't get it, do you Shadeth? The Ginyus are gone, and I'm glad to say I defeated one of them myself. But that's beside the point now; you're already bent on killing us, and there's no changing your mind. But I can do you one favor, you black bitch," said Vegeta arrogantly. He turned to Goku in his Golden Oozaru form. 

"I have a bit of a score to settle with Kakarotto over there. You two continue your little battle, and I'll deal with the monkey. How does that sound?" 

Shadeth cackled from the ground. 

"Have fun with it, Ginyu. If you didn't see, one of us Muk-jin didn't stand up to the beast, so it would be utterly impossible for you to. But anyway, BAD LUCK!" bade Shadeth, laughing at Vegeta. Vegeta smiled. 

"Yeah, and good luck with your opponent. I have a feeling he has a little surprise in store for you," said Vegeta, winking. He then flew off, leaving Shadeth dumbfounded. He didn't even notice Trohan standing a few feet away from him, powering up a Kamehameha Wave. 

**--- --- ---**

As Goku stormed towards the two warriors, he saw another golden one racing for him. They were the same color, the color of the most valuable mineral on Earth. And he was a very valuable warrior at the moment, indeed. 

Vegeta stopped in front of Goku, causing the giant Golden Oozaru to stop as well. He roared, blowing back Vegeta's high hair, and making his face cringe in disgust. 

"Kakarotto, let me tell you honestly…" Vegeta sneered. "…you could use a breath mint." 


	17. Chapter Sixteen

_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_ For the last chapter, someone informed me that the Room of Spirit & Time was completely demolished in the normal DBZ timeline. I am not totally sure if that is true…but the truth is…I don't care, since the room is important to the story. For another thing, I will now be referring to Golden Oozaru Goku as Kakarotto, since it's easier to write, and technically, he is Kakarotto now.

As in reply to Vegeta, Kakarotto launched a fist of fire at Vegeta. Screaming in anger, Vegeta thrust both of hands out in front of him to meet the fist. It connected with them, and threw Vegeta back a few yards, but he kept his grip. Vegeta's eyes never looked so determined, so angry, so full of malice. Without hesitation, Vegeta released his grip and backflipped through the air, over the monstrous punch. 

"Is that all you can do, Kakarotto?" taunted Vegeta, a sneer forming on the left edge of his mouth. His teeth gleamed in the golden glow of Kakarotto. This was what Vegeta lived for. And now he would be able to get his revenge, and he would be the good guy for once. 

Kakarotto pulled his fist back, but it wasn't fast enough for Vegeta. He grabbed Kakarotto's big finger as he dragged his arm back. Kakarotto began to shake Vegeta in the air, but he held on with great strength and endurance. Goku brought his other hand around to swat Vegeta, but the Super Saiya-jin 2 jumped up just in time so Kakarotto ended up hitting his hand with great force. 

This left him open for Vegeta to charge into the head with a strong kick from the right foot. Kakarotto staggered back and Vegeta fired two large yellow blasts directly at his eyes. With his hands in pain, Kakarotto just barely jumped to avoid the attack, and instead they both hit him in the stomach. He screamed in rage and Vegeta staggered back. 

'His anger is greater than I had imagined…' thought Vegeta. 'I'll need to heat things up soon.' 

Vegeta once again charged Kakarotto, but he didn't see the mouth open and a large red blast erupting from Kakarotto's insides. It traveled through the air at unbreakable speeds, and overcame Vegeta. He was pushed back, but he didn't have enough defense to defy the blast, so it badly damaged him. When the attack was done, Vegeta stood on the ground on one knee, panting heavily with many bruises and scratches surrounding his body. 

"All right Kakarotto, I've had enough monkeying around! Now we begin!" 

With that, Vegeta transformed into Super Saiya-jin 3. He lifted himself up into the air with a newfound power. Kakarotto seemed to not be affected by the transformation, and jumped into the air. Vegeta was ready when a kick was aimed directly at him, and he quickly dodged it. Kakarotto landed, so Vegeta decided to charge. He quickly powered up a purple energy ball and threw it at Kakarotto. But before it struck him, it stopped. Kakarotto looked confused as Vegeta appeared behind the energy ball and it enlarged. 

"GALLIC GUN!!!" he screamed with all his might as his two hands surrounded the ball. Vegeta seemed to be surrounded in a purple aura as he unleashed the attack upon Kakarotto's face. He saw as the blast shot towards it, but never struck where he wanted. Vegeta saw that Kakarotto's left hand had caught the blast. 

"Shit! How could he be so fast?" wondered Vegeta aloud in anger. He watched as Kakarotto's hand contained the blast, and it seemed to glow from the cracks in his large fingers. Vegeta zanzokened to the left when his own Gallic Gun was fired back at him. With anger, Vegeta flew at Kakarotto's left hand, and shot up as the hand attempted to grab him. He aimed a punch directly at the Golden Oozaru's shoulder, and it connected perfectly. When Vegeta did not hear a scream of pain, he knew that the move had been useless. Kakarotto was invincible. 

**--- --- ---**

Mirai Trunks landed on the floor of the room, now uprighted seeing that had entered a new dimension. He was surprised to find his old friend, Krillin, punching the air and firing energy blasts. He looked up at Trunks. 

"Trunks…" he said quietly. He stopped firing. "Have you come to save me?" 

"Yes Krillin, I am here. Now please tell me, what happened in the past?" 

"Just as I thought," said Krillin laughing. "You just want to know what information I got. You don't actually think I fought, or did something important. You wouldn't believe that I saved your timeline." 

Trunks laughed. 

"Well Krillin, if you did, just tell me, 'cause I'd believe you! 

Krillin looked at him with a cold stare. 

"Laugh. That's all you can do at me. Just laugh at my expense. I guess I'm too funny looking. Short. No nose. Weird beady eyes. And I used to be a monk with six dots on my forehead. I've always been a real weirdo, huh?" asked Krillin in anger. "Well I've had it with all you Z-Senshi. I know what happened in the past, and I know who did this to Goku. But I'm not going to tell you." 

"What's wrong with you Krillin? What did I do?" 

"You've done nothing, and that's the problem. Staying back and letting everyone else do the work. Why don't you go back to your own time? You don't belong here!" screamed Krillin, angering Trunks. 

"Why are you saying this?" 

"Because Trunks, I must. We've all been corrupted. We're all going to die." 

Krillin then jumped at Trunks with a ball of energy in his hand. He smiled when Trunks sidestepped him and unsheathed his sword. 

"Finish the job, Trunks! You don't need me any more, do you? I'm useless to the Saiya-jins, and I'm not a threat. C'mon Trunks! Right through the stomach!" screamed Krillin, taunting him. Finally pushed to the edge, Trunks screamed and pulled back the sword…but then put it back in its sheath. Krillin was taken aback. 

"I won't succumb to your tricks, Krillin. I am the killer of the Androids…and no one else. I have people to help now." 

Krillin then smiled. He walked up to Trunks and extended his right hand. 

"You truly are a good person Trunks. I was testing you, to see if your anger was in check. Now I know. You are the only Saiya-jin left who can control himself. And it so obvious why. Every Saiya-jin in this timeline is powered with anger, but you are so calm and collected, it makes you stronger. I can tell right now, that even though you think you play no part here, you do. Everyone has a purpose. Even I do, because I bear the secret." 

Trunks shook Krillin's hand. 

"I believe you old friend. Now you will come with me, and we will say nothing to each other. I won't know the secret, or what happened in the past. I can't let anything delay the task at hand." 

"As you wish," said Krillin, with a newfound look of determination in his eyes. Him and Trunks approached the newly freed door and opened it. They walked up into the dimension of real-time, and set off towards the final battle. 

**--- --- ---**

Waves of golden energy flowed upwards through Trohan's body as his eyes closed in on his target, Shadeth. In his hands was a large blue ball, the Kamehameha. He screamed and unleashed it upon his enemy, Shadeth, who in turn put up an energy field. The wave deflected off of it, doing barely any damage. Shadeth laughed. 

"I wasn't even trying before! Now that your friend has things taken care of…it's just you and me," chuckled Shadeth. 

"You should be crying," said Trohan, launching a barrage of energy spheres at Shadeth. All of them were yellow in color, and relatively small. 

"Renzoku Energy Dan!" screamed Trohan as hundreds of energy balls surrounded Shadeth's body. He looked at all of them, a bit confused. 

"Now!" screamed Trohan, and all of the balls closed in on Shadeth, pounding him from all sides. He caught two and then zanzokened from the scene. Without warning, he appeared next to Trohan, and shoved one of the balls into his stomach. Trohan heaved and was thrown backwards violently, where Shadeth axe-handle smashed Trohan into the ground. Trohan hit with a thud, and then was pinned down when the other ball of energy split into little locks and ceased his movement. 

"What are you doing now? Do I need to be captured for you to beat me!?" challenged Trohan. Shadeth shook his head. 

"Of course not. It's just more fun this way." 

Shadeth slowly walked over to Trohan's prone body. He pulled his hand back and plunged it into his stomach. He sat down on the ground next to the struggling fighter and looked at him. 

"So tell me…do you know how the Ginyu died? The one you call Goten?" he asked cruelly. Trohan suddenly stopped struggling and his eyes went ice cold. He turned to Shadeth. 

"I don't want to. I wouldn't if I were you…" he warned. Shadeth just laughed. 

"Oh you should've seen his face. He really could've used some help. Maybe…a best friend…"

The Trunks part of Trohan gritted his teeth. 

"Well let me tell, he screamed quite a lot. It got annoying after a while…he sounded just like a little girl. I wonder who he got that from?" 

Gohan cringed inside of Trohan's body. 

"Well you see, he tried to fight us. It was pretty funny actually, because he was so weak. He had almost no training, and was not even a match for one of us. So we cut off his leg…"

Trohan screamed in anger, his aura swelling around him. His hair began to twitch. 

"And then we put him on the ground and injected large amounts of painful energy into his body. Each time, his eyes seemed to plead with us. 'Please stop!' they begged. But we didn't want to. We were having so much fun." 

"NOOOOOO!!!!!" screamed Trohan in a fit of rage. He transformed into Super Saiya-jin 3, but could still not break the bonds. 

"Oh yes, and then we all got into the air and made a large circle. We gathered a large black blast in the middle. And then we unleashed it. It struck his stomach. He tried to say something, but couldn't. I guess he was too weak. And here's the funniest part…there…he just died!" 

That broke the straw. Trohan screamed in rage and his hair went completely white. The bonds that held him broke completely off. The fusion suit ripped into tiny pieces when his muscles bulged beyond capacity. His hair then receded, going back to sticking straight up as with Super Saiya-jin 2, but completely white. The pupils of his eyes turned completely white. His pants almost seemed to change with him, turning white as well. When the transformation was done, Trohan floated in the air panting, a Super Saiya-jin 4. 

Trohan pulled back his fist and plunged it through Shadeth's chest. He pulled it back out and sliced his head off with a clean chop. He then took the head and crushed it in his hand. He took the body and ripped off an arm, and incinerated it in his hand. He took another arm and started beating the body with it. Screaming in a sickly mix of laughter and pain, Trohan dropped the remains of Shadeth to the ground. He looked up at the full moon as if talking to someone. 

"Goten…brother and best friend…you are avenged." 

With those words said, Trohan was surrounded in a white sphere of his own energy. He screamed in the anger that had fueled his existence. And then the anger was no more, because Trohan imploded in upon himself and ceased to exist. 


	18. Chapter Seventeen

Vegeta's head turned so quickly that he almost broke his neck. He shot a glance at Kakarotto, and he had done the same, even in his senseless Golden Oozaru state.

For to the left, where Trohan and Shadeth had been battling, and a power greater than anything Vegeta had ever felt in his life before. Stronger than Shadeth…and even stronger than the mammoth that stood in front of him. It was a battle of black and white, but it was clear who would win. 

A smirk crossed Vegeta's face as the being of white took Shadeth and literally ripped him to pieces. And then, in an explosion like no other, even greater than the one where Vegeta sacrificed his life and body to kill Majin Buu, the white warrior encased its body in a shell of white, and a flash of white blinded Vegeta and Kakarotto. In response to the light, a huge wave of white energy expanded out from the spot and into Vegeta and his adversary. Even the giant Golden Oozaru was knocked back by the blast, and almost fell over. Vegeta was too shocked to even bother forming an energy shield, and the blast seemed to envelope him. The pain was unbearable, but Vegeta knew he must withstand it, for he was one of the only warriors left. 

It was clear to the Saiya-jin Prince then that the son he had borne on this planet was gone. Him, and a boy who Vegeta had also spent a good deal of time with. 

Something strange happened to Vegeta there. His eyes began to grow glassy, and slowly began to wet. And just as when he lay on the ground after being shot in the heart by Freeza, a tyrant who had controlled most of his early life and made him miserable…Vegeta began to cry. But this time, it was not for his own death…Vegeta was crying for another. There he realized that he had finally grown compassion. Even after admitting he wasn't the strongest warrior, Vegeta still didn't believe he had softened. And even after giving his life to save the Earth, Vegeta knew there was a way he could come back, so in some way, he was doing it for himself. 

But now, the tears flowing came from the death of his son, who he would most likely never see again. Kakarotto, already bored with that little altercation to his left, had turned back to Vegeta and was already stomping towards him. Vegeta looked to the ground, the salty water falling from his eyes to the ground below. Even in his bestial Super Saiya-jin 3 form, Vegeta's emotions were evident. The Prince of the Saiya-jins had grown soft. 

**--- --- ---**

As if nothing was going on, the trees stood still on the field that led to the cliff, which hung over the great river. To the wildlife, there were no aliens on the Earth. No one had been killed on that day. They were oblivious, yet they still lived, taking in the sun and water day in and day out, not bothering anyone. 

But the grass and trees were not alone. Among them floated a being that would've normally donned a cape and turban. But time was precious, and he had no time to bother with extra accessories. Piccolo floated about three feet above the ground in his usual meditating state. His eyes were closed, and just by his furrowed brow, one could tell he was in deep concentration. 

Blessed with the powers from the Guardian of the Earth, who now resided inside of his body, Piccolo could see everything that occurred on the planet. The surging power of Trohan had sent Piccolo sprawling over the cliff, and he had almost fallen off, until he remembered he could fly. 

Thoughts were flying through Piccolo's mind faster than the speed of light. But one conquered them all. 

_Is it possible? A Super Saiya-jin 4?_

But Piccolo's follow-up question contained even more mystery. 

_How could it have killed Trohan like that? Was it that dangerous?_

Piccolo seemed to have forgotten that he was now Guardian of the Earth, and had enough respect to communicate directly with the Kaios. Kaio-sama's voice suddenly erupted in his head. 

**Piccolo, your new responsibility is great. But you must learn to control your hunger of knowledge, and keep your questions at a minimum.**

_I see, Kaio-sama. I am sorry._

**Apologies are for the weak Piccolo. True strength lies in the one who can forgive. But enough lessons, those can be for later…**

Piccolo sighed. 

**Don't get sarcastic…now listen up Piccolo-sama…yes…that's your new name, so get used to it. I know you have many questions. But I can only tell you one thing. You must warn your friends. That mythical stage that Trohan reached temporarily is extremely dangerous. If you thought Super Saiya-jin 3 was dangerous, this new stage is beyond that...**

_Super Saiya-jin 4._

**If you must…Super Saiya-jin 4. It is possible to attain…yes…but only with extreme training in the Super Saiya-jin 3 level, and extreme anger, as in Trohan's to the death of Goten. If those two requirements are not met, it is deadly.**

_Thank you Kaio-sama. Now I must return to my meditating, I have almost figured out the outcome of this ordeal._

**HA! With Kami and Dende fused into your body, you still cannot tap into the future far enough? Maybe you should stop depending on your own knowledge get some help from the others…**

_Not a bad idea…_

Piccolo's eyes squeezed tightly and he called upon the knowledge of the Namek-jin's contained within him. 

**--- --- ---**

While Mirai Trunks and Krillin flew through the air, they suddenly saw a great flash of white. In seconds, instead of going forward, they were tumbling backwards through the air. A power stronger than either of them had felt before seemed to surround them, as they squinted their eyes closed to shield them from the light undoubtedly brighter than a Taiyoken's. 

When the wave of energy had faded, Trunks brushed his loose hair away from his face. Krillin turned to him. 

"Things just keep getting stranger," he remarked, stating the obvious. 

"There's no time for talk. Let's go," ordered Trunks, shooting off towards the final battle with Krillin trailing behind closely. 

**--- --- ---**

Kakarotto uttered another roar, but couldn't seem to faze Vegeta. His head remained facing the ground, bowing to the unknown. Kakarotto finally got close to Vegeta, and extended his huge hand, clutching Vegeta inside of it. He squeezed tightly and lifted Vegeta up high, inspecting him curiously. 

It seemed that he was in an unconscious state…either asleep or dead. Kakarotto, unable to tell the difference, screamed in rage and threw Vegeta up into the air. He then leaped, and with a devastating swing, he flung Vegeta to the ground. In less than a second, Vegeta's body bounced off the hard soil, landed again, and then lay still. Blood immediately began to trickle out of his mouth and Kakarotto towered over him, charging up a blast in his mouth…

"KIENZAN!!!" screamed a voice from behind the giant ape, and he turned around just in time to see an enormous yellow disc spinning towards his body. With a roar, he reached out and caught the disc in his hand to Krillin's amazement. His eyes opened wide with fright, unable to believe that the Golden Oozaru had foiled his attempt to cut its tail off. 

Krillin actually had no idea what was going on. A lot of the fighting had taken place while he was in the past battling Tien. A flash of Yamcha's death appeared in Krillin's mind, but he pushed it away. 

Krillin was extremely tired as well, because of the fact that he had been punished brutally by Tien, and had been throwing quite a few Kienzan discs frequently. 

Looking at the ground, he saw Vegeta. He was quite surprised, seeing that he had tried to cut the tail off of Goku, a lifelong friend of his. He was also shocked to see that Goku was now a golden color, and in his Oozaru form. It was an understatement to describe Krillin as confused. 

But there was no more time to the think. Krillin had finally wasted all of his energy. His energy diminished, and Krillin dropped to the ground. Kakarotto, now interested in this new subject, slowly began walking over to Krillin, but suddenly felt yet **another** power behind him. Wheeling around, Kakarotto spotted Mirai Trunks powered up to Super Saiya-jin 2 with his sword drawn, slicing for his tail. 

The blade swept through the air, as if in slow motion, but only managed to slice a small golden hair off of the tail. Kakarotto had pulled it away just in time, and then threw the Kienzan he'd been holding at Trunks. Trunks looked up to the see his friend's own disc now being hurled at him by another. He jumped up to avoid it, but his right hand didn't get away in time. Holding the sword, Trunks's right hand separated from his body. 

The sword fell to the ground and the tip penetrated the soft soil, holding the sword in place. The hand fell from the handle and fell to the side. 

It was too much for Trunks to bear. He let out a scream of pain that made Kakarotto's fur ripple. All the Golden Oozaru could do in response was roar and stomp his feet as if in a tantrum. 

Kakarotto turned around. He would go for the smallest first, his maniacal and small brain told him. He headed for Krillin. 

**--- --- ---**

_Here's your chance, Trunks. You can help. Restore him. One wish remains…_

**--- --- ---**

Trunks had fallen unconscious because of the pain. But he couldn't. He had to be strong…like Gohan, who had lost his arm protecting him. 

This was Trunks's chance to help. To prove he had come back for a reason. It wouldn't be in strength, for that was not what was needed. It would come in wits. 

Trunks crawled over to the dragon balls. Bored, the dragon had receded back into the balls, but it could come out again. Trunks slowly crawled over to the seven balls; slowly remembering that words to recite. Each time he dragged his body, he felt the pain growing stronger, and his own weight growing heavier. But he couldn't allow that to stop him. 

Trunks finally reached the balls; he was quite sure that he remembered the phrase. He slowly muttered it loud enough for only the dragon to hear: 

"Eternal Dragon, by your name I summon you forth…Shenlong!" Trunks said the last word with some emphasis, about the last he had left. The balls illuminated and Shenlong shot into the air. In the distance, Kakarotto had raised his foot over Krillin's body, but turned to see what had happened. He saw the great dragon in the air and roared loudly, walking towards it. 

"Are you ready for a wish?" asked Shenlong; still mad he had to wait so long after the last wish. 

Trunks could just see the bottom of the dragon; he didn't have enough strength to look up. 

"Shenlong…my wish…is…" Trunks was having trouble talking. The words were hard to get out of his mouth. 

"Shenlong, my wish is to restore the health of my father, Vegeta," said Trunks, and his eyes closed. He passed out as Shenlong's eyes illuminated a bright red and the wish was granted. 

**--- --- ---**

_I am coming now, Kakarotto. _

You must be getting lonely out there on the battlefield. It's all right. 

Soon, they will all be dying, and then I will show them…it was I that built you…and it is I that will rule, with you at my side. 


	19. Chapter Eighteen

Vegeta lay on the ground face-first, and no part of him faced the sky. The darkness beat down on him, like the sun without heat.

The pain that Vegeta felt was not physical, for he had let Kakarotto destroy his body. It was the pain for the loss of his one and only son. 

So when the power was restored into his body, with one quick jolt that was not too slow or fast, the pain did not leave Vegeta. He stood up, his body restored, and his eyes blank, devoid of emotion. The wounds slowly disappeared from Vegeta's face, sealing themselves. The dried blood seemed to disappear, along with the scratches and bruises administered by Kakarotto. 

Vegeta ignored Kakarotto, who was now stomping towards the Eternal Dragon. What caught Vegeta's eye was a glint. In the middle of the night, glints were very uncommon, so Vegeta slowly walked over with his newly renewed body. 

And what he found was a sword stuck into the ground. A limp hand lay next to it, unmoving. Vegeta didn't cringe, for it was the hand of his son. He knew immediately what he was destined to do, and the whole reason for Trunks being there. He looked back over to Kakarotto, and Shenlong had disappeared. He saw Trunks lying on the ground and prepared to kill him. It was too much for Vegeta. 

He screamed in rage, surrounding himself in waves of gold as he once again entered the state of Super Saiya-jin 3. He felt invincible, the power made him feel as if he could destroy anything with the snap of his finger. The ground rumbled at his power, and he let out a scream that rivaled Kakarotto's constant roars. Kakarotto immediately turned to Vegeta and saw him powering up. He began to lumber towards the final warrior left. 

**--- --- ---**

_I am here now, Kakarotto. You cannot see me, but I am here. Just get rid of him, and you will be the final Saiya-jin. And we will rule. _

He is the last in our path.

**--- --- ---**

On the same cliff, at the same spot, Piccolo continued to meditate. He had managed to answer all of his questions, using the knowledge of Kami, Dende, and even Nail. Piccolo was now content, and dropped out of his meditation. His feet touched the ground and his eyes opened wide. 

_I must go. The finale is at hand._

Piccolo formed and aura and flew off towards the bout. 

**--- --- ---**

Looking up at the best before him, Vegeta mustered all of his courage, pride, and strength. This was the true testament to his power, the last straw. His final chance. He leapt into the air, and planted a kick in Kakarotto's stomach. The monster doubled over and Vegeta jumped on his back, raising his palm to it. 

"BIG BANG!!!" he screamed, unleashing blue energy on Kakarotto's back with seared the fur and caused him to stagger back. Kakarotto screamed in pain and threw a hand back at Vegeta, which struck him and knocked him back. Kakarotto then uprighted himself, and shot two yellow blasts at Vegeta. 

The Saiya-jin Prince managed to dodge one, and threw the other away with his strength. He charged at Kakarotto, throwing a blast at him for distraction, and then landing in his hand. 

Calling up all of his strength, Vegeta formed a large yellow ball above his head with both hands and fired it down into Kakarotto's hand. It didn't go through, but made an impressive hole, causing Kakarotto to grab Vegeta with his other hand. 

But Vegeta wasn't going to lose again. With a surge of energy, he broke free of the Oozaru's hand and kicked it away. Flying to his stomach, Vegeta powered up his fist with yellow energy and aimed a punch that Kakarotto leaped to avoid. Vegeta punched empty air, and then barely evaded a huge foot coming back down at him. Another foot appeared and knocked Vegeta in the chin, causing him to fly up and letting Kakarotto hammer him down with a giant fist. Vegeta thudded against the ground, and slowly helped himself up. 

He looked up at the beast, biding his time. Another fist came for Vegeta, but he jumped to avoid it, and Kakarotto almost lost his balance trying to hit him down so low. Vegeta had already appeared behind him and using a force of energy, sent Kakarotto sprawling down on his back. Now was Vegeta's chance. He put both hands in front of him, and a yellow ball began to form. 

Kakarotto seemed to not be moving, and the ball slowly began to grow in Vegeta's hands. He knew this was his final chance, and nothing would stop him. 

**--- --- ---**

Krillin's eyes slowly began to open, and he looked out. He saw nothing much, naturally, because it was nighttime. But he slowly hoisted himself up to see Vegeta, in Super Saiya-jin 3, hovering over Kakarotto's body, forming a Final Flash. It was growing as Krillin watched. Losing his energy once again, Krillin collapsed. 

**--- --- ---**

Vegeta's eyes went wide as the Final Flash began to grow even larger. It was now well larger than the cup of his hands, and the power of it was unimaginable. Vegeta didn't know he contained so much power. He also knew that this was his final chance to save them all. The ball continued to grow with the energy Vegeta continued to pump into it. 

**--- --- ---**

Piccolo flew over the horizon, and spotted a large golden figure lying on the ground. He knew that the terror still lived, and that there wasn't much time left for Earth. 

**--- --- ---**

The ball was now at the perfect size. Vegeta managed to smile, looking down at Kakarotto, who had now slowly stood up and was staring at Vegeta with those dull eyes. 

His compassion left him once again. Vegeta was Prince of the Saiya-jins, never an Earthling. It was not Kakarotto's fault that this was happening, but Vegeta had no choice. And he was doing it…for himself. 

"FINAL…FLASH!!!!!" screamed Vegeta, unleashing the enormous ball of energy from his hands. Kakarotto jumped in the air to avoid the blast, but his tail hung below his body, and the enormous ball of energy incinerated the entire tail. 

Kakarotto screamed, but it didn't sound as much like a Golden Oozaru anymore. Falling to the ground, unconscious, Goku began to slowly turn back into a normal Saiya-jin. Vegeta floated in the air, panting, trying to comprehend what he had just done. He slowly floated down to the ground and lay on his back. He finally realized what he had done. 

Facing the sky, Vegeta silently thanked all of those that had died, for giving him this chance. He had saved the world, and he had done it by himself. 

First it was Trunks, ultimately defeating Freeza. Then it was Gohan, taking down Cell with a final Kamehameha. And then Kakarotto, throwing the Genki-Dama at Buu, incinerating his body. Vegeta had finally taken his place among the champions, by defeating the ultimate champion. 

But then he heard the cackling. 

**--- --- ---**

Piccolo had finally arrived. He had seen the entire transpiration of events. The devastation of Vegeta's Final Flash greatly shocked him. He never realized just how much power and anger Vegeta had pent up inside of him. The attack was devastating, and Goku's now normal body lay in the middle of a crater Vegeta had created. 

Vegeta had given up to the exhaustion, and fallen to the ground. But before Piccolo could heal Vegeta, the cold steel of a blade sliced entirely through his midsection. Without warning, Piccolo's top half fell to the ground, and his mouth gaped open. He began to stutter, but instead of words, blood began to spill out of his mouth. Then he went silent. 

But Vegeta was still awake. Weak, but his eyes slowly opened, and he finally saw the one who had started it all… 


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**"I'm not sure, but I'm pretty positive he was saying one word. 'Kakarotto,' " replied Chi-Chi. And with that, Goku's eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed to the floor.**

_Kakarotto…_

** "But that's impossible, Brolli was killed a long time ago, I doubt he knows how to use a phone, and why would he call saying Kakarotto?" reminded Chi-Chi. They all turned to Goku to see that he was unconscious.**

_Kakarotto…_

** "…so I said 'Kakarotto,' and he just collapsed like that. Poof, out like a light. Dad, he fainted. He--"**

Goku was awake. 

_Kakarotto…_

**"Geez, I'm never fusing with you again. If I were just myself, I would've killed that Remeth monster and all the rest of his friends. You are a fool, Kakarotto," said Vegeta, walking away mumbling to himself. **

"And there's even worse news, guys," said Krillin, causing everyone to turn to him. "Goku fainted again."

_Kakarotto…_

**The bean broke the spell. You are free, but freedom always comes with a price. **

Everything flashed before Goku. And he woke.

_Kakarotto…_

**--- --- ---**

"I knew it all along," said Vegeta confidently, and then promptly passed out from the previous battle. The man laughed and walked over to him. He ripped his shirt off and then tied it around Goku's waist, making good shorts. 

"Make yourself decent, Kakarotto," said the man, who now had all of his paint rubbed off of his body. Without all of the strange clothes, he looked like an even smaller version of Krillin. He smiled. 

"Wake up Kakarotto. Don't make me use this sword here. I know you've been through a lot today…" said the man, laughing in a voice that was strangely lower than his normal. 

Goku finally opened his eyes and got a look at him. His face scowled in disgust. 

"Chaozu." 

"Wow, thanks for trying to dramatically say my name. That was really great." 

"My…name…is…" Goku began to stutter. "G-Goku…"

"G-Goku? Oh, well, I always thought your name was Kakarotto; I mean wasn't it all the way back then before you bumped your head? When you were a Saiya-jin?" 

"Chaozu…I'm surprised. Why?" 

"Why? Well Kakarotto, I don't really think I have an answer for that. Maybe you should ask, 'how,' how did I ingeniously devise this plan, and actually go through with it? Don't you want to know that?" 

"I didn't ask you that…now did I?" said Goku freshly. Chaozu's lip began to quiver. 

"Gonna cry now, Chaozu?" taunted Goku. Chaozu then laughed. 

"Oh Kakarotto, you should be crying. Your sons, Goten and Gohan are dead." 

"I assumed so. It was the Muk-jins who killed them." 

"Ah, but really Kakarotto, it was I. For the Muk-jins were just holographic projections. The only reason they seemed so strong was because I made your minds believe you were weaker than them. You always knew I was telepathic, Kakarotto, but you never thought about anything else, except for a fight." 

Goku began to try hoisting himself up, but Chaozu quickly touched the blade of Trunks's sword to his throat. He lowered down again. 

"Your telepathy. And psychic powers. That is how you put the curse on me, isn't it?" 

"Well that would make sense, wouldn't it?" 

"But…"

"How? Hah, your curiosity has won out, Kakarotto. You want to know how. Well it's quite simple really. I just cast a curse on you the last time I saw you. This way, any time someone said the name 'Kakarotto,' you would immediately faint." 

"What was the point of that?" wondered Goku aloud. 

"Well you see Kakarotto, I did my homework," chuckled Chaozu. "I learned that the regrowth of a Saiya-jin's tail is easier than it looks. All you need to do is knock him unconscious three times, using psychiatry to enhance the process. But the only way to knock him out is to use his Saiya-jin name. Since Vegeta called you Kakarotto quite frequently, I thought that it would work out. But you two didn't see each other enough, so the word 'Kakarotto' was never uttered. So I decided to take a stroll over to 25 Davidson Avenue, another house with the same exact address of the Capsule Corporation. This way, you thought it was Vegeta calling your house. This also helped start off the first step in turning you into Kakarotto." 

Goku nodded his head. It was extremely clever. 

"Now that Gohan was at Capsule Corporation, you were all banded together, and I decided to release the Muk-jins, who were completely fake, as you already know. And then, when your idiot son gave you the senzu, the spell was broken, and your tail had grown. And you did the rest of the work for me. Everyone here is extremely weak, and I could kill them all with this sword right now. Actually, I think Vegeta will go first." 

Chaozu slowly trudged over to Vegeta with the sword at his side. Suddenly a scream erupted from behind him, but without losing a beat, Chaozu shoved the sword behind his body, catching Piccolo directly in his chest. 

Chaozu stood, facing the other way, while behind him, Trunks's sword had now pierced Piccolo's body. 

"Namek-jin, did you actually think I had forgotten about your regeneration abilities," said Chaozu mockingly, not facing Piccolo. He quickly whirled around and withdrew his sword. 

"Well there's one thing I do know," he muttered. "A headless Namek-jin is a useless Namek-jin." 

In a quick sweep, Chaozu behead Piccolo, slicing through his neck like butter. As the green head dropped to the ground, he looked up at Chaozu. 

"P-Please…" he muttered with his final words. Chaozu smiled. 

"Okay…now that you've asked nicely…I'll kill you." 

Chaozu put his hand in front of Piccolo's severed head and charged up a blast. He released it without remorse, incinerating the entire skull. He laughed and plunged the sword into the ground. 

"Stupid green alien. Just like all the others…you fall." 

But before Chaozu could continue taunting a dead person, he heard the sword being slowly removed from the earth. His eyes opened as wide as saucers, and he dared not look behind him. 

"You stabbed Piccolo without looking at him, like a true coward. Now turn and face your death like a man," said the voice behind him. 

Chaozu reluctant turned around to see Goku, standing there with a sword in his hand. He shoved it into the ground next to him. 

"I don't need this sword to beat you, Chaozu. I could destroy you right now if you wanted. That's what Kakarotto would've done," Goku explained. "But though you tried to bring Kakarotto back, all you've done was destroy him. Yes, I'll admit there was always a little bit of Kakarotto still pent up inside me, but the good of Goku never let him out. Now Kakarotto is completely gone, and I am pure. I am completely pure. I'd thank you…but I think I'll pass." 

Chaozu sneered in hatred. 

"I only did it so I would be known. All you Saiya-jins, and Namek-jins, you got all the credit! But what about me? By the time Buu rolled around, the mention of my name was usually at the expense of laughter." 

"Enough whining. I don't want to hear or know why you've done this. You have a sick mind." 

"But you do want to know, Kakarotto! I was Emperor Chaozu, and Tien was at my side! And Tien was incredibly strong…I'm sure you remember how he defeated you at the Tenkaichi Budokai. Do you remember that?" 

Goku just shook his head. 

"You are a weak and pathetic creature. But I have an idea of what to do with you." 

Goku placed his hand on Chaozu, and they both disappeared from the scene of death. 

**--- --- ---**

King Yenma was busy with paperwork when Goku arrived in his room, with Chaozu held by the collar of his shirt. He immediately looked up and gasped at the site. 

"Goku…I'm so glad you were able to take care of this menace!" exclaimed King Yenma, who looked down at Chaozu menacingly. 

"If I were you Goku, I'd just kill him now so I can send him down to hell and be back to my paperwork." 

"Well, you know I'm not like that King Yenma, but I'd like to make a deal." 

"Hey, what's this? What about…"

"Shut up Chaozu," said Goku and Yenma at the same time, fed up with the annoying midget. 

"I'd like to sacrifice a life for a life. I know that Piccolo was just killed, but if he could switch lives…"

"An excellent idea Goku!" said Yenma aloud. Suddenly, Piccolo appeared in front of him with a halo over his head. 

"No way! I'm not trading spots with this idiot!" exclaimed Chaozu. 

"I don't see anything against it," smirked Goku, breaking Chaozu's neck. Chaozu dropped to the floor, and in an instant, Piccolo's halo slowly flew from his head to Chaozu. Chaozu stood up on his feet. 

"Well at least I still have my body," he exclaimed. "And I can't be killed now because I'm already dead! Looks like you lose again, Kakarotto!" he said happily. 

"Well Chaozu, it really isn't that easy. You see…" Yenma trailed off. 

"You're going to hell," said Piccolo, finishing the sentence as the floor opened up under Chaozu, sending him down to the depths below, never to be seen again. Goku placed one hand on Piccolo and the other on his forehead. 

"Thank you, King Yenma. We gotta go though, 'cause me and Piccolo, or should I say Piccolo-sama, have some dragon balls to build," said Goku, leaving the large room, and returning to the world of the living. 


	21. Epilogue

Goku and Goten stared up at the sky. The stars twinkled in the night sky, and all was calm.

Peaceful. 

Quiet. 

This was all Goku had wanted. He never wanted the fame or popularity of becoming the strongest of the Z-Senshi. He never asked for the responsibility of saving the Earth countless times. 

But that was how it was. 

Goku turned to his side, and saw his son…his last and only son left. He turned to Goku and smiled. His hair was now cut exactly like his Gohan's was, who he had always looked up to. 

When Piccolo had managed to resurrect the dragon balls, he ended up bringing back Shenlong, but only with one wish. This caused a great dilemma to Goku and Vegeta, who had plenty of trouble trying to decide who to wish back. 

But then the decision was made. Piccolo was informed by Kaio-sama that Trohan would need two wishes to be wished back, since he was actually two entities. So Goten was their choice. 

They wished him back, and Goku went to Namek via Instant Transmission. When he arrived, to his dismay he learned that the dragon balls had already been used, and that by the time they could be collected again, it would've passed the year time limit. Trunks and Gohan were gone…for good. 

Kaio-sama also informed Piccolo that Trohan was nowhere to be seen in Heaven. He said that King Yenma never reported an arrival of Trohan, or Trunks and Gohan. 

Mirai Trunks returned to his time, happy that he could help by saving Krillin and at least attempting to cut of Golden Oozaru Goku's tail. 

Krillin, amazed that he was still alive after a huge battle, which usually never happened, was enjoying life as well with Android 18 and their daughter, Marron. The death of Yamcha was very sad to him, but everyone was amazed and proud of when he defeated Tien. 

Mr. Popo had died, and as with Trunks and Gohan, was never to return. 

Piccolo, now Piccolo-sama, became Guardian of the Earth. The Lookout was rebuilt, and Piccolo resided there…not alone…but with Dende, Kami, and Nail as well. 

Chi-Chi, Pan, Videl, and Bulma had trouble coping with the losses. Videl and Pan were very lost without Gohan, as with Chi-Chi. Bulma missed Trunks deeply, and even Vegeta showed great sympathy when he learned Trunks would not be returning. That is when he began to train Bra. 

No evil came to the Earth for a long time, and Goku and Vegeta began to grow old. The two families began to grow apart, and barely ever saw each other after a while. Goten tried to forget his past, with the Muk-jins, Chaozu, and his dad being a psychopathic ape. He missed Gohan deeply, and vowed one day to avenge his death. 

As for Goku and Vegeta, they both knew of the level Trohan had reached, and continued to train to reach it. Super Saiya-jin 4, yet fabled, became a goal for the two Saiya-jins, and training never ceased for them. They trained their daughters, and Goku trained Goten, trying to pass on the legacy of the Saiya-jins with their children. They knew that someday they would be gone, and the last of the Saiya-jins would finally leave the universe. This is what they feared. 

Goku never felt evil again, and never let it breach him. It felt very empty with most of the Z-Senshi dead, but Goku also felt safe, as if their sacrifices were not in vain. 

Vegeta was finally contented, and happy he was able to finally defeat Kakarotto in battle. He remembered the battle in his mind clearly, and never feared a thing again in his life. Vegeta was a proud Saiya-jin Prince. 

The Earth was safe once again. 

**--- --- ---**

The ki began to form in his hand and he looked down at the writhing creature before him. He smiled, recollecting all of the battles he had fought and won, without even beginning to release the extent of his true powers. He fired the blast, enveloping the monster in it, erasing it from existence completely. 

An eerie clapping began to rise up around him, and the warrior smiled. Down in Hell, you had to earn your respect. Destroy the weak and let the strong destroy them was the motto down here. And you better learn to exist with it. Chaozu never learned that, which led to this man ending his existence the instant he arrived. 

He laughed, and looked around him, as the vile creatures backed away in fear. Darkness enveloped the land, but by then, he had learned to live with it. The warrior turned heel and slowly walked off through the blackness, all of Hell watching in awe as he slowly departed into the silent eternity. 


End file.
